Veteran Journalist Tackles FG On Insurgents

Masoyi Lusa

A veteran journalist and  publisher of Point Blank Newspaper and, Sanusi Muhammad, has called on the federal government to intensify intelligence gathering on the modus operandi of the dreaded insurgents, Boko Haram as the only way to defeat the insurgents and restore peace in Nigeria.

Speaking to newsmen on the recent bomb blasts that rocked some parts of Abuja and Maiduguri last Friday, Muhammad opined that, “to defeat Boko Haram is not an easy task as most people think. The insurgents are connected to other terrorists in other climes, well armed, trained and conversant with their terrain of operation. As they are being smoked out of Sambisa by the military, they are strategically relocating to other areas to establish new cells for business as usual. As the war rages on, government approach those that can assist with vital intelligence reports collation on the insurgents not baseless cock and bull stories”, he said

According to Muhammad, as a onetime consultant to the office of the late NSA on Boko Haram, several suggestions were offered to the Jonathan administration on how best to defeat the dreaded sect including genuine dialogue but ignored for obvious reason, stating that, “it reached a stage that leadership of the insurgents was prepared for secret dialogue to end the insurgency but that was not supported to fruition. Some of those in-charge, of security affairs preferred to engage the insurgents in war than dialogue that has not paid any appreciable dividend”, he said

He suggested a brand new approach other than war to end the insurgency, “it is innocent Nigerians that suffer from the criminal actions of Boko Haram. The insurgents appear determined to continue with their crime despite the losses they are suffering. They have nothing to lose. Nigeria should introduce other strategies to defeat the insurgents than war”, he said