Yobe State governor, Malam Mai Mala Buni, has advised security operatives in the country to actively explore and engage Boko Haram insurgents in dialogue with a view to ending years of insurgency in the Northeast.
Governor Buni gave the advice during a North East Security Summit organised by the office of the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar Adamu in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Buni said though, the effort of the military to contain the insurgency is necessary, there is the need to engage the insurgents in dialogue adding that no conflict of such nature anywhere in the world has ever been resolved solely by military means.
“We therefore suggest that we should seek – and use – back channels to open communications and contacts that both sides could trust as credible. Such communications and contacts should necessarily lead to something meaningful,” he added.
The governor also suggested that the military should open or reinforce a ‘safe haven’ for insurgents who desire to abandon insurgency or repent from their demonstrably evil ways for reintegration into the society.
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu said the summit was convened as part of the Nigerian police community policing initiative with a view to strategize and employ all inclusive approach towards ensuring internal security.
IGP Adamu said the security meeting was also meant to design a holistic approach to the complexity and challenges of crime in Nigeria adding that “public trust, consent and partnership are the foundation upon which policing rest.”
Governor of Borno State, Umara Zulum who was the host advised the military to take the war to the enclaves of the insurgents and advocated for the reopening of all commercial oriented villages closed down by the army to enhance economic activities in the state.
By Aliyu Musa,
Leadership