ABUJA – The Adamawa State Governor, James Ngilari has expressed serious concern about the present
security situation in the state, saying he was right now praying for the situation to improve.
He said an entire senatorial district, (Mubi senatorial district) and five local governments have been
over run by Boko Haram.
Ngilari who spoke to State House correspondents at the flag-off ceremony of the National Power Sector Apprenticeship Scheme at the Banquet Hall of the presidential Villa, said the people were looking forward to an urgent intervention of troops to arrest the situation.
He said, “the security situation in Adamawa is very dicey right now and we are only trying to do our best to manage the situation. We are praying that it will improve, but it is really something to worry about”.
Asked how many towns have been over run by the insurgents, the governor said “I can talk of my entire senatorial district, Mubi senatorial district. Five local governments have been over run; Gombi and I just got a
report perhaps the outskirts of Shani. There is a semblance of movement in that area. Really, we need a lot of intervention. We need to move more troops to secure the state. Really, it is a big challenge”.
On the taking over of the hometown of Air Marshal Alex Badeh, Chief of Defence Staff, Ngilari said, “We shouldn’t reduce this issue of the insurgency to simply the taking over of the house of the defence chief. There are a whole lot of things that make the challenge of insecurity. What about the problem of unemployment? You know it is a whole long story. We don’t just reduce it to the taking over of the house of the defence chief. I think it is more than that. Absolutely it
is a challenge. We look up to God. God is there, there is nothing impossible for Him. We will do our best, but it is not something that we should leave in the hands of government. Everybody has a
role to play in terms of giving out information timely, in terms of convincing people who are involved, they live with us, they are not from planet Mars, they are part and parcel of the society”.
Asked how soon he thought the insurgency would be over in the north-east, Ngilari said, “I believe that Nigeria will really overcome, but I don’t know the time frame. Anything that affects any part of Nigeria affects the rest. We must all see how we can tame this monster”.
