The Deputy Governor of Borno State, Zanna Mustapha has said that the members of Boko Haram are better equipped than the Nigerian military.
Mustapha also said that unless efforts against the sect are intensified, the North-Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe would cease to exist in the next three months.
The Deputy Governor stated this in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, on Monday, November 3, while paying a visit to displaced Borno indigenes who were forced to leave their homes due to the recent Boko Haram attacks in the Mubi area of the state.
Mustapha also lamented the ease with which Boko Haram is taking over communities in the affected states.
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He said:
“If the Federal Government does not add extra effort, in the next two to three months, the three North-Eastern states will no longer be in existence. The Federal Government has tried its best but their best is not enough because rather than going after the insurgents, it is the insurgents that are going after us.”
“It is a big crime that the criminals are better equipped than the military and they are just few kilometres from the Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states capitals,” he added.
Mustapha also spoke on the purported ceasefire between the government and Boko Haram:
“We are yet to believe that there is a ceasefire because the first day after the announcement was made, over 30 people were killed in Borno State, and (the terrorists) continued with their rampage in Adamawa, Gombe and only this morning there was a bomb blast in Yobe,” he said.
“Let us appeal to the international community to come to our rescue otherwise in the next few months the three states may not exist,” he added.
The deputy governor also said that 13 local governments in Borno, three in Adamawa and others in Yobe were currently under the control of Boko Haram.
Members of the terrorist sect invaded Mubi on October 29 causing thousands of people, and even soldiers, to flee the area.