Former Borno State Governor and ex-lawmaker, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has warned that Nigeria will not win the war against Boko Haram unless it urgently builds strong security and diplomatic alliances with neighbouring countries.
Sheriff, who appeared as a guest on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Monday and monitored by Mega Icon Magazine, said the insurgency is not a purely domestic problem, but one deeply rooted in cross-border infiltration and external manipulation.
“If we are serious about ending Boko Haram, we must establish a proper relationship with Cameroon, Chad, and Niger,” Sheriff declared, stressing that the porous land borders shared with these countries have long served as entry points for militants and arms.
The former governor, who led Borno from 2003 to 2011, recalled how, during his tenure, many Nigerians — including leaders of neighbouring states — failed to grasp the regional nature of the threat.
“Even my next-door neighbour, then governor of Yobe State, didn’t believe this had nothing to do with Borno people,” he said.
“These are problems that were coming from outside Nigeria. Unfortunately for us in Borno, we share land borders with Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Boko Haram wasn’t homegrown in the way people imagined — it was a bigger, external problem,” he added.
Sheriff alleged that external forces capitalised on religious sentiment to fund and manipulate local actors, fuelling the deadly insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions across Nigeria’s North-East.
On the economic hardship faced by Nigerians under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the senator admitted the situation was painful but urged the public not to place the blame solely on one individual, pointing to longstanding structural challenges.
Despite the toll of the insurgency, the current administration says it is recording progress in the fight. According to National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, over 13,000 fighters from Boko Haram and its ISWAP faction have been neutralised since Tinubu took office in May 2023, while about 124,000 have surrendered.
