Inwalomhe, a public affairs commentator and Executive Director of Justice Research Centre gave the warning in a chat with Alltimepost recently.
Nigeria, he said, should take a decisive step like what “Cameroun did and it is working greatly for them. Cameroun dug a moat with excavators to prevent reckless and endless influx of dreaded terrorists from gaining further access to their country, with gendarmes manning the borders at every moment.
“For us if we want to survive the invasion by terrorists, gigantic moats must be built with security posts to man the Northeastern borders of the country. Restrict the borders then insurgency will be reduced drastically.”
Inwalomhe was gravely concerned about the activities of foreign terrorist, saying: “Hezbollah has gone into cooperation with the Polisariot in Western Sahara, Aquinne militant group in northern Mali and Niger, these militant gangs normally cross our porous borders to give elements like Boko Haram and Cattle hustlers needed maniacal potent support that go a long way to unsettle peaceful communities in that axis.
According to him, the 6,000 ISIS members that were dislodged in Syria and Iraq have all relocated to the Sahel portion in Africa.
“If we cannot restrict these various dreaded terrorist groups now, there may not be a country called Nigeria in the nearest future. These terrorist groups are threats to 2019 general elections. How do you conduct elections in Zamfara, Yobe, Bornu, Benue, etc. that are being terrorized constantly by these various militant groups?”
It is crystal clear, he noted, ‘’From Kebbi State to Zamfara, to Sokoto, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa Yobe, that Nigeria-Niger border does not exist in these states.”
So you cannot even identify that this is the border. How can you restrict movement when you cannot identify the border? The killings in Zamfara by various militia groups are an attempt to create a homeland in the Northwest Zone for various militia groups.
“So it is free movement for militia groups in this zone. This homeland will now serve as basis for the other militia groups in Mali and Niger in terms of cross border attacks.’’
He said the Federal Government can never defeat terrorist groups as long as the borders are not check mated, adding: “There is nothing wrong if the 6,000 police personnel just recruited are sent to the Nigeria/Niger border to help curtail the security challenges there. The people in the North know where the weapons and the terrorists are coming from. They are not spirits.
“Talking of where to get money to fund this urgent national task, part of the recently released Abacha loot can be used or a chunk can be taken from the gains recorded by the assets recovery unit of the Federal Ministry of Justice, or the ones recovered via the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC)”
