Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari and said setting up permanent military bases along Taraba’s border with Cameroon is the only solution to incessant Ambazonia attacks on Nigerian civilians.
Ambazonia militants, who are seeking to secede from Cameroon, regularly cross into communities in Taraba, inflicting huge casualties.
In November, the militants attacked Takum local government and killed 11 persons, including a traditional ruler in Manga village.
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“The military is stationed there for now,” Ishaku said on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “But I had to tell the President, as the Commander-in-Chief, we will need a permanent solution on the axis of our continuous boundary with Cameroon.”
He noted that the Kashimbilla dam has extended the Kashimbilla lake about six kilometers into Cameroonian territory, allowing for easy access to and from Nigeria.
“Therefore we need to station a naval base, an air force base to police the borders and also a military base on a permanent basis,” he said.
“This is the only way we can prevent the re-occurrence of these Ambazonians, which is one too many.”
Mr. Ishaku noted that the President’s response was very positive.
“I was very happy with the meeting,” he said. “He understood the details of everything I discussed with him. And he was quite sympathetic. I think we are on the way to a permanent solution.”
