No plan to send military administrator to Borno----President Jonathan

(Nigeria) President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, says he has no plan to send military a administrator to Borno, following the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks in the state.

The President made the disclosure in a presidential media chat, saying government was still exploring options available in tackling the insurgence in the North-East of the country.

According to him, the Federal Government is in contact with its Camerounian counterpart to arrest the situation, which has become rampant at the Nigeria-Cameroun border.

The President said government would continue to apply different tactics in fighting the Boko Haram insurgents until victory was completely achieved.

He added that ``it is not only the army that fights terror; the army is key in terms of confrontation, but the SSS, the Police the NIA and other security agencies are also working.

``Fighting terror all over the world is not so easy but I can assure you that we will get over it; all intelligent agencies and security agencies are involved in this fight.’’

Jonathan, who regretted the comments made by Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on the security challenges in the area, said that the presence of the military had helped in curbing the insurgency.

He added that ``if the governor of Borno feels that the Nigerian armed forces are not useful, he should tell Nigerians and I will pull them out for one month and we see.

``Just one month; but I will fight back to take back the state. The governor should be mindful of what he says; no matter how frustrated you are, you don't make this kind of statement. The Boko Haram massive attack started from Abuja; the Police Headquarters and the UN building were bombed in Abuja; so if the security people have not been working, I don’t think we will have been moving freely in Abuja.

``They have been able to squeeze the attacks almost at the fringes, but not too long ago they came back to Maiduguri, where they attacked the helicopters and so on.’’

The President, who said that government had been working with the Camerounian authorities and would change tactics and get more troops, noted that ``there are successes and surely we will get over it.’’

He pointed out that the option of dialogue was still being pursued in tackling the insurgency in spite of the group not embracing it.

He said terrorism everywhere in the world was difficult to eradicate because it had to with a group of people coming together from different places in the world.

Negotiations were easy in the days of militancy in the South-South because the actors were not faceless and they had their grievances, contrary to terrorism which had no face, he added.

He said that ``the Niger Delta militants don’t just go and kill people anyhow but in the case of Boko Haram, they go to a community and kill women and children.

``They go to schools where students are sleeping and slaughter them; so, the approach of terror all over the world is different. Sometimes they use false religious teachings that have no basis in any of the holy books to brainwash their followers; so they are more difficult.’