The Chairman, House of Representatives committee on Army, Abdulrazak Namdas, says the late Boko-Haram strongman, Abubakar Shekau, would have been more useful to Nigeria’s war against insurgency if captured alive.
Namdas, who appeared on Politics Today, a Channels TV programme aired on Sunday night, stated that notorious terrorists like Shekau are worked on in advanced countries.
The former sect leader was reported dead on Wednesday, although with different versions of how he died.
For over six years, the group have rained terror in the Northeast and some other parts of the country, killing and maiming people.
According to HumAngle, a Nigerian-based organisation that specialises in conflict reporting, Shekau committed suicide when Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters, a rival terrorist group, captured his stronghold in Sambisa forest.
Security analysts and sources within the insurgency have however raised on the killing of Shekau by ISWAP as it poses a threat the country’s security, signaling new dynamics to its fight against terrorism.
But Namdas, during the television programme monitored by POLITICS NIGERIA, said it would have been more beneficial if the Boko-Haram leader was captured alive.
“For me, everybody in Nigeria, Africa should be celebrating the death of Shekau . I am glad that he’s dead. But actually, for me as a person, I’m not a personal of the army, how I wish he didn’t kill himself, how I wish it was the military security forces that have capture him alive. He would have you more useful to Nigeria if he’s really capture that life.”
The lawmaker said; in developed countries, when people of that calibre are captured alive, first, a lot of intelligent work will go down on him. His mode of operations will be unveiled. People will begin to know their operation and how they are able to get ammunition.”
“They would gotten very important information,” he added.
On the war against insurgency, Namdas urged the Nigerian government to take advantage of Shekau’s death amd and the fight between the two terror groups by improving its intelligence gathering and provision of sophisticated weapons.
“Now, today they are fighting each other, so I think we too 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 then pursue them once and for all.”
“And for me as a layman I keep saying (that) the most important tool we should use to defeat Boko-Haram id that let us get more of our AK-47.”
“If you see videos of this terrorist,… they have more ammunition,” Namdas decried.
He further recommended proper funding of the armed forces beyond the budgetary allocation, noting that the bill providing for that will soon be passed by the house of assembly.
