Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday said he appreciated the patriotism of the local hunters who showed their readiness to go into Sambisa forest, but pointed out that he had no authority to give them permission to proceed, saying that, only the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could do so.
The governor, who said this in an interview, noted that even if he did have the powers to do so, it would be suicidal for them to go into the forest in search of the girls.
“I honestly appreciate the spirited concerns of the hunters, but I don’t have the powers to order them to go into the forest in search of our missing daughters,” said Governor Shettima. “Only the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has such powers to order troops and paramilitary into the forest.
“I would not do that even if I had the powers, because it is too delicate and dangerous to go into Sambisa or any other forest where these elements are, in spite of whatever powers they claim to have. I can only encourage them to be engaged in our local Civilian JTF where we could give them some basic training, just like we did with over 4000 young men so far, so that they go back to their various communities to deploy their experience in helping us to secure our communities and complement the efforts of the conventional police,” the governor said.Shettima added that the hunters could, however, accompany the soldiers into the forest as back-up, if they so wished, whenever the military deemed it expedient to go into the forest. “But for us to say they should go into the forest on their own is really delicate and dangerous,” Shettima said.
Source: Leadership
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