Boko Haram still controls two LGAs in Borno – Defence Minister

                        Brig-Gen. Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali (retd.)

 

Contrary to claims once made by the current Government of Nigeria that “no inch of territory” is under the control of Boko Haram, the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali, has said that two or three Local Government Areas of Borno State are still controlled by the terrorists.

He however stated that the Nigerian military has made enormous gains in the fight against the insurgents in recent times, having reduced the terrorists’ control of Nigerian territory down to this relatively small area.

In a chat with Voice of America (VOA) on Wednesday, the minister remarked that the military has reclaimed much of the land once occupied by the terrorist group in the three North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, forcing Boko Haram to wage mostly guerrilla warfare at present.

“Within one year, the coming of our president has changed the game. Look at what was happening before…. Now we may have maybe two local governments,” he said.

Speaking further, he told VOA that the military should be able to clear the terrorists out of the Sambisa Forest within two or three months.

The minister’s remarks are coming barely two months after the senator representing Borno Central in the National Assembly and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Baba Kaka Garbai, sparked controversy when he claimed that his state is divided in equal measure between the terror sect and the Nigerian military.

Also, VOA in its report, recalled that President Buhari, had shortly after he was inaugurated as president in May 2015, confidently declared that Boko Haram would be defeated by the end of that year. Before 2015 was over, Buhari announced that he had succeeded in his pledge, claiming that Boko Haram is now “technically defeated”.Dan-Ali said that President Buhari’s regional and international approach to the fight against Boko Haram has also made a huge difference.

“We have been receiving specialized training and intelligence sharing. If you can remember, my president has been going around. In the fact, the five neighbors, including Cameroon, Chad, Benin, have been integrated. We are all working together and we are sharing information, and the international community is also advising us in the right direction,” he said.

On the identity of the would-be girl suicide bomber who told Cameroon authorities this week that she is one of the 276 Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, Ali said the Nigerian military has information that while the girl was captured from Chibok, she was not among the 276 captured in 2014.