Boko Haram: Borno, Yobe, Adamawa Governors Should’ve Been Removed –Alamieyeseigha

Former governor of Bayelsa State and confidant of President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, yesterday said the three democratically elected governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa should have been removed when a state of emergency was declared in the three North-Eastern states.

The former governor, who spoke to Daily Sun in an exclusive interview, said if he were in a position to call the shots, all semblance of democratic rule in the three states would have been suspended to enable the military flush out Boko Haram terrorists.

His words: “Well, that is the first thing I would have done if I were the president. Full state of emergency would have been declared. Let all the governors go and all the structures of democracy be removed. I am not the president and he has advisers everywhere. Whatever decision he has taken is in the best interest of the country.

“He understands the situation better than me. I am only saying that if I were the president, all the structures would have been removed. I would have given full military powers to whoever that is appointed to overrun all those insurgents.”

The former military officer urged a fresh approach in the counter-terrorism war in the country. He particularly advocated the creation of a counter-terrorism agency to deal with insurgency, stressing that military men were only trained in conventional warfare and not in counter-terrorism operations.

He said: “To me, it is very clear. We should establish a national counter-terrorism agency. When you talk of national security, it is not just military security. Food security, political security and cyber security should all be considered. What if a desperate person comes to Abuja for instance and poisons the water reservoir? Would you even contemplate a thing like that? Do you know how many people will die without knowing who did it? We should always take preventive measures.”

“I am a trained military man. Our training is more of conventional warfare. The enemy is the other side while you are on this side. Whoever has the superior training and fire power overcomes the enemy. But this time, it is different. It is the world of the mind. You do not win that kind of war on the battlefield, it is ideological. Other strategies have to be applied.

“We should not allow it to happen at all. If they are coming from outside, our National Intelligence Agency (NIA) that deals with issues like that should he able to pick it up from wherever it is coming from and prevent it from happening. It is a multi-dimensional approach.

“There must be an agency that will deal with issues like these. In the case, where foreign assistance is being sought, there should be an agency where they can fit in. Right now, you use what you do not have.”

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Boko Haram: Borno, Yobe, Adamawa Governors Should’ve Been Removed –Alamieyeseigha