Nigerians will remain at the mercy of terrorists as the country has been denied access to acquire adequate weapons to tackle insurgency, that’s according to Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture.
Mohammed stated this on Monday, in Makurdi, the Benue state capital and noted that Boko Haram activities may continue unabated as Nigeria has been denied access to acquire the required weapons.
Mohammed described the killing of the over 100 rice farmers as ‘unfortunate’ but said “Nigerians will remain at the mercy of terrorists” and noted that to decimate the terrorist group, the country needed more support from global partners as well as acquiring adequate weapons to fight them.
“When we talk about terrorism, people don’t seem to appreciate that terrorism is not a local issue, it is a global issue and there is no part of the world that doesn’t experience its own pocket of terrorism.
“We are dealing with terrorists who are financed globally and we also need more support from global partners, for instance, Nigeria has made an attempt to acquire a better and more effective platform to deal with terrorists but for one reason or the other we have been denied this platform, these weapons and without adequate weapons or platform we remain at the mercy of terrorists,” the Minister told reporters at the Benue state capital.
He added further that, “fghting terrorists is not a joke because what actually happened in Borno State is unfortunate but you must also look at the strategy of the terrorists.
“Terrorists use media and publicity as oxygen. It is not that the government is not doing enough, but terrorism whether in Afghanistan or anywhere in the world has the same concept, a group of people who are extremist in their thoughts who don’t think that you and me should be alive.”