• Hails Army successes in Borno

Former leader of the Senate and Chairman of the upper legislative chamber’s committee on Army, Mohammed Ali Ndume, yesterday, bemoaned the lack of equipment in the prosecution of the ongoing insurgency war in the Northeast.

Ndume, who represents Borno South in the Red Chamber, said that the military was using refurbished and outdated weapons in fighting the insurgency war, adding that Boko Haram terrorists were using more sophisticated weapons.

Ndume, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said that a lot was being expended on yearly overhead of the Armed Forces, but little on purchase on new weapons and gadgets.

He said that it was almost impossible to see security agents in Nigeria with new weapons like AK-47, but wondered how insurgents would have more superior weapons than the military.

He urged the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to explore other means of securing weapons for the military if the current bureaucracy was a storming block.

He said the military is ready to end the war and other security threats in the country, but warned that it maybe impossible until the right weapons and ammunition are provided by the government.The senator, however, hailed recent successes recorded by the Army and other security agencies in Borno, adding that it was unlike in the past, when soldiers waited before launching any attack and were not taking the battle to the insurgents’ domains.