The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on
Wednesday that the Nigerian military had met the December deadline to
defeat the Boko Haram terrorists.
The minister said this during his maiden meeting with editorial heads of
media houses in Lagos. President Mohammadu Buhari had, upon assuming
office, issued a December 31 deadline to the military to defeat the Boko
Haram terrorists.
“Today, I can report that the war against Boko Haram is largely won. “I
can confidently say this because just recently, I led a group of 33
journalists from both the local and international media to the hot bed of
the insurgency, that is, Maiduguri, Kondugua, Kaoure and Bama.
“Today, I can report to you that the entire 70 plus kilometres stretch
from Maiduguri to Bama and all the way to Banki which leads to Cameroun
and the Central African Republic are in the hands of our gallant troops.”
He said the military presence could be felt ”every few metres along the
road; at a point along that road we were just a kilometre to Sambisa
forest. “They have so degraded the capacity of Boko Haram that the
terrorists can no longer hold on to any territory just as they can no
longer carry out any spectacular attack.”
Mohammed, however, said that though there were still cases of suicide
bombings, it was pertinent to note that such was the nature if insurgency
globally. “Unlike a war between two armies, an insurgency never ends with
arms victory “Even in countries like Colombia where insurgency was
supposed to have ended decades ago, attacks like this still happen.”
He said that the insurgents had adopted a new style of attacking soft
targets like motor parks, schools, entertainment centres, religious
centres, killing innocent people mostly women and children. He, therefore,
urged Nigerians to support the military in the fight against terrorism in
the country, saying that the military had availed itself creditably.
“It is our turn as civilians to give them our support; to realise that the
war they are fighting is not their war alone, but our war, hence we must
own the war.” The minister disclosed that a national security campaign had
commenced to raise awareness among Nigerians about the war, the sacrifices
of our troops, and how to stamp out the remnant of the war.
“Jingles are being played on national radio and television as part of the
campaign in order to keep the media better informed about the war, so that
they can also better inform Nigerians,’’ he said. Mohammed also said that
an ad-hoc committee, comprising media representatives as well as
intelligence agencies, would be inaugurated to regularly be updated about
the war in order to better inform the public.