Insurgency: Delegates Indict FG, Military-

Insurgency: Delegates Indict FG, Military-

There were damning revelations yesterday at the ongoing National Conference where delegates took turns to open up on what they know about the insurgency bedeviling the nation. The delegates spoke in a closed-door session while discussing the report of the Standing Committee on National Security.

Prior to the revelations and midway into the presentation of the report by the committee’s deputy chairman, Albert Horsfall, the conference chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, had ordered the journalists covering the proceedings to vacate the gallery, a situation which embarrassed the reporters with the way the order was executed by overzealous security men particularly men of the State Security Service (SSS).

However, a statement by the conference assistant secretary, media and communications, James Akpandem, sent to media houses last night said delegates poured out their minds on the situation vis a vis its handling by the federal governmnet and the methods of the military, practically indicting both for the country’s inability to effectively counter the raging insurgency.

“As Conference resumed in the afternoon to consider the recommendations contained in the report and some proposed amendments, information about plans by Boko Haram to burn down 50 communities in Borno State was raised and discussed by the delegates.

“At this point, Chairman of the Conference and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, GCON, mandated his Deputy and former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, to clear the gallery and proceed with the closed-door session where delegates discussed freely on Boko Haram.

“The session started with a retired general who led the Conference through the strategies involved in the war against Boko Haram. He traced the history of the insurgency and dazed delegates with information on what should have been done at the beginning that was not done,” the statement began.

The unnamed retired army general was quoted as saying that poor intelligence gathering, low morale among the troops, poor remuneration, lack of kitting and provision of ammunitions were responsible for the failure in the war against Boko Haram insurgents.

“Another speaker, a politician, said Boko Haram is thriving because they have been allowed (by government) to outsmart security agents in the area of funding and morale-boosting.

“It was his view that people entrusted with the management of funds and proper application of other forms of resources meant to combat insecurity in the country have diverted such resources to personal use; a development which has resulted in the current state of affairs,” the statement said.

Another delegate, a former ambassador, said the seeming failure of the war against Boko Haram was traceable to the inability to implement recommendations contained in various reports submitted to the federal government by different formal and informal groups in the past.

The delegate was said to have disclosed that Boko Haram has grown to a level where “its funding is offshore; its weapons accumulation is offshore, its training is offshore and its strategy is offshore.”

#Leadership.