TheCable

Mansur Dan-Ali, minister of defence, has pleaded with Nigerians to give the military more time to finish off Boko Haram, saying insurgency cannot be eliminated in one day. 

Speaking with state house correspondents after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Dan-Ali said 95 percent success had been achieved in the fight against insurgency.

“Give us additional time, recall that recently we lost one of our officers and soldiers,” he said.

“Insurgency is something that you cannot eradicate within a day. Remember Tamil Tigers, remember Kashmir and other places of the world where insurgency is ongoing.

“However, within the last one year I can assure you that almost 95 percent of the security challenges of this nation have been eradicated.

“If you can remember before the coming of this administration we had a lot of security challenges. I am not saying that it has been eradicated within one year, but I am telling you as I am talking to you today I am proud to mention that things that were happening in the past in the north-east and other regions of this country have tremendously gone down.”

Dan-Ali’s statement is coming a few days after Muhammad Abu Ali, Nigeria’s war hero and some of his men were killed by the insurgents at Mallam Fatori, Borno state.