Govt. Won't Deploy More Troops To The North - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday ruled out the deployment of more troops in the North, despite continued attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the bomb and other violent attacks in the North.

The situation led to the calls for the deployment of more troops to combat the Islamic sect.

But Jonathan, who spoke in Dakar during a visit to his Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall, insisted that sending more troops would lead to loss of more lives.

He said, “If you use superior firepower, you will wipe out people.

“You would have noticed that the issues are coming down gradually, it is not something you can wipe out with a wave of the hand.

“Those saying that we are not doing something about Boko Haram are not being realistic.”

On the crisis in Mali, Jonathan said a military option as approved by the Economic Community of West African States would be the last resort.

He said the sub-regional body would continue to use diplomacy and dialogue in the resolution of the insurgency in the country.

He said ECOWAS was not planning to rush troops to the troubled country at the expense until all the options of peaceful resolution were fully exhausted.

Jonathan said, “The world unfortunately is passing through a period that people are becoming aggressive. These are some of the challenges that African leaders are going through.

“The situation in Mali is a complex one. We are working to stabilise the government in Mali. We are reaching out to them to first stabilise the government of Mali.

“Diplomacy and negotiation is the first step. It is only when that fails that ECOWAS will move troops there. But we cannot do that alone; it has to be done with the collaboration and mandate of the United Nations.

“But first and foremost, we are negotiating. We are trying to stabilise the government. Through negotiation, I’m sure, we will resolve the issue.”

On the situation in The Gambia, he said African leaders would no longer refrain from intervening in crisis under the pretext of sovereignty of states.

He said leaders in the sub-region were already consulting with a view to resolving the issues in contention in The Gambia

He said, “African leaders will no longer keep quiet. That was how the genocide in Rwanda escalated.

“We believe that we all have a stake in what is happening anywhere on the continent. That is how we were able to save Niger; that is how we were able to save Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. We will continue to do our best.”