The Chairman of the House Committee on Army, Hon. Abdulrazaq Namdaz, has stated that it would have been better if Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, did not commit suicide in the battle with ISWAP, as it would have given Nigeria the opportunity to gain intel on Boko Haram’s activities.
The Chairman disclosed this in an interview with Channels TV on Sunday evening. He also called for alternative means of funding the fight against terrorism, stating that more ammunitions were needed.
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What the Chairman of the House Committee on Army said about Shekau’s death
“I wish Shekau didn’t kill himself. I wish it was the security forces that captured him alive,” he said.
“He would have been more useful to Nigeria if he was really captured alive; however, his death will stop his activities… just as when Mohammed Yusuf was killed, I wished he was captured alive.
In the developed world, when people of that calibre are captured alive, a lot of intelligence is gathered from him. His mode of operations will be unveiled and how they are able to get ammunitions…very good important information.
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The firepower of the armed forces, especially the air force left the terrorist in a state of disarray. Today, they are fighting each other, we should take advantage of that and push our intelligence, both local and with technology so that we can be able to get these guys and pursue them once and for all,” he added.
He also stated that the most important tool needed in defeating Boko Haram was the use of more ammunition, citing that it was not necessarily true that they (Boko Haram) had more ammunitions than the Army.
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“We should give our forces enough ammunition to face the enemies, and get them once and for all. No matter how powerful you are, you still need intelligence, we have spoken about alternative ways of funding the armed forces in the national assembly, because doing it through budgetary allocations alone will not be adequate,” he stated.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported last week that the leader of the Boko Haram Islamist sect, Abubakar Shekau, allegedly committed suicide, after events related to fightings between Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the Sambisa forest area.