Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said 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.
In his words: “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.”
The minister, however, said that though there were still cases of suicide bombings, it was pertinent to note that such was the nature of 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, religious centres, etc. killing innocent people mostly women and children. He, therefore, urged Nigerians to support the military in the fight against terrorism, 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.”