“Defeated” Boko Haram now carrying out “propaganda” attacks – Lai Mohammed
Information and culture minister, Lai Mohammed, said the military has largely met the deadline given to it by President Muhammadu Buhari to defeat Boko Haram, despite the recent attacks by the terrorists.
“In a few days’ time, the deadline issued by President Muhammadu Buhari to the military to defeat Boko Haram will expire,” Mohammed said during a meeting with news editors and political correspondents in Lagos on Wednesday.
“Without equivocating, I will repeat what I said that has sparked a firestorm: Our gallant military has largely met the deadline! I make this assertion with all sense of responsibility and they are backed by facts.”
He reiterated his earlier statement that the military has massively degraded the capacity of the terrorists to carry out the kind of spectacular attacks they used to execute in the past, like the attacks on the police headquarters and the UN Complex, both in Abuja.
Mohammed also said that in just six months of the Buhari Administration, the Boko Haram that was in control of a territory larger than an entire geo-political zone in Nigeria ”has been reduced to a fleeing, bomb throwing, cowardly and disorganised army”.
He said at length:
Among the areas where Boko Haram has been kicked out is Bama, which was the self-declared headquarters of their Caliphate. From there, they collected taxes, dispensed jungle justice, deposed and installed Emirs and hoisted their own flag. Today, the town is firmly in the hands of our troops.
Not unexpectedly, the dying and desperate insurgents have carried out some attacks on soft targets in the North-east during this festive season. This is cowardly, dastardly and condemnable. We commiserate with the state governments and the families of those who died or were injured in the attacks which, as I said earlier, are like the death pangs of a dying horse
These attacks are part of the propaganda that has been launched by Boko Haram and their fellow terrorists, ISIS, to seek to remain relevant in the face of massive routing by our gallant troops, and to also discredit our committed and patriotic troops. But the attacks do not shake our resolve a bit, in our determined quest to rid our nation of terrorists and ensure the security of our citizens
The fact that Boko Haram has continued to carry out attacks on soft targets is not an indication that they still have capacity. As I have said many times, the attacks will not end with the expiration of the deadline, since insurgencies are not conventional warfares in which the guns could be silenced with an armistice. But I also said that the attacks will taper off with time, with better awareness among the citizenry and enhanced intelligence gathering by the security agencies.
As the military enters the mop-up phase of this war, what is left now is the onerous task of resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction, especially in the North-east, which is worst-hit by the war. We appeal for support from all Nigerians in this regard, because the government alone cannot handle this task,” he said.
.
