- Ex-governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke, said that Boko Haram insurgency has cost Nigeria more than the civil war
- He lamented that the insurgency has become a money-making venture for some people
- Duke alleged that there is a fundamental problem in the Nigerian military which is making it difficult to defeat the insurgency
A former governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke, on Thursday, March 29, said that what Nigeria has lost to the Boko Haram insurgency, in the last seven years of its menace, is far more than what the country lost during the civil war.
Speaking at a conference organised by the National Movement for Positive Change (NMPC) in Lagos, the former governor lamented that some Nigerians have turned Boko Haram insurgency to money-making venture to the detriment of the country’s peace and development, Vanguard reports.
He said: “Boko Haram has gone longer than the civil war. Boko Haram has been on for about six to seven years now, whereas, the civil war was three years. In real terms, it has cost us more than the civil war, in terms of human and material resources.
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“The Boko Haram crisis is also economic and it is getting deeper now because they have realised that the best way to get more money is to capture a few girls, get about $10 million to release them and six months later kidnap another set and make more money.
“There is a fundamental problem in our Armed Forces, their efforts cannot be doubted but there is a problem somewhere. I believe the men and women in the Armed Forces are far more intelligent and exposed to deal with this issue.”
In his remarks, the president of NMPC, Niyi Aborisade, said that some people came to power with the promise of change but “the irony is that they didn’t inform Nigeria the kind of change they intended to deliver.”
Aborisade said: “The way this country is being run is not good for the citizens, so it is our duty to create awareness and an enabling environment so that people in this country will be aware of their rights and their power to bring positive change to this country.”
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NAIJ.com previously reported that Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh, founder of Progressive Alliance Movement (PAM), and son of Nigeria’s first finance minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, urged the military not to play politics with the relative calm peace in Nigeria.
Reacting to General Theophilus Danjuma's call for self-defence and allegations against the military, Okotie-Eboh noted that Danjuma is a serious-minded person.
Okotie-Eboh in a statement Monday, March 26, in Abuja, remarked: “If the allegations of military playing politics with the insurgency in the country are true, they should quickly address it because we know what it can lead the country into."
Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram - On NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng