Postponement: North East not secured for voters, says security expert

Renowned Security Expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu has called on the Federal Government to postpone the February 2015 elections in the North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, so that the military will complete counter-terrorism operations in the zone.

Reacting to the declaration by the European Union Election Observer mission that they will keep off the Northeast conflict zone, he said: “It’s obvious that the three North Eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe are not secured for citizens to exercise the right to vote.  Politicians must not ignore the obvious grave threat that terrorism poses to Nigerian Citizens in their quest to gain political power.  If the North-East zone is not safe enough for EU observers, then it is not safe for free and fair elections.”

Ekhomu said that 75% of the Local governments in Borno State were under the control of Boko Haram terrorists. 

He noted: “Rather than conduct a “fraudulent” poll in the remaining seven local government areas of the state, all efforts must be made to flush out the terrorists from Borno State.”

Suggesting ways to defeat the terrorists, Ekhomu called for a massive troops surge to dislodge them. 

His words: “The army should mobilize three divisions into the operational theatre and flush out the despicable terrorists. It is unacceptable for sovereign Nigerian territory to be under the control of terrorists with Jihadi flags flying.”

He said that the contention that a military operation in Boko Haram held territory would risk collateral casualty was untenable.  He said: “This is war and the Federal Government cannot afford to leave its citizens to be kidnapped, humiliated and slaughtered like sheep by blood-thirsty terrorists!”

He pointed to the attempt last weekend to overrun Maiduguri and the fall of Monguno as indicators of the military prowess of the enemy and urged the government to consider the Boko Haram terrorist threat as an existential threat. 

He said that the Government was under-rating the enemy, and this could be a “fatal error.” 

“It is tactically better to over-rate the enemy and defeat them, than to under-rate them and be defeated by them,” said Ekhomu.

He advised politicians to be violent on Boko Haram, rather than on their opponents.  He said the only true enemy of Nigeria today was Boko Haram and all Nigerians including the politicians must unite to defeat them.