TheCable

The Nigerian troops “have destroyed all known Boko Haram camps and cells” in the northeast, Rabe Abubakar, defence spokesman, said on Wednesday.

According to PRNigeria, the defence spokesman stated this at his maiden media interaction with journalists at defence headquarters (DHQ), Abuja.

The PR agency quoted Abubakar as saying “that the terrorists had been so militarily defeated and weakened that they could never hold any part of the territory in that part of the country”.

“These terrorists have been subdued, even if they are adopting other means and as they are re-strategising, we are also doing same,” the defence spokesman was quoted to have said.

“We have been coordinating on-the-air and ground assault to make sure that these terrorists hideouts are completely decimated. As I am speaking to you, all the terrorists camps have completely been wiped out. So, right now they are completely in disarray, having no command and control of where to plan. We have even taken over the their camps that most of them have even abandoned their bases and blended within towns and communities. We have also apprehended some of them and very soon move back to their communities.

“We are making a lot of headway and a lot of achievements and people should know that Boko Haram is no longer strong enough to hold ground. Very soon, this issue of whether they are in control of any territory in Nigeria or not will come to the open. We must begin to think of the nation. I am assuring you that they will never again recapture the territory taken from them, because what is happening right now with the deployment of troops, equipment and morale will ensure that.”

Abubakar said that a lot of progress had been made as a result of new strategies adopted by the new service chiefs, including constant morale-boosting visit to the troops on the front-line.

These visits, he said, coupled with the deployment of sophisticated weapons, had not only boosted the morale of the troops, but practically introduced a new dimension on combating terrorism and insurgency in the north east, “hence the issue of desertion, complaints of non equipment and lack of morale and motivation are now thing of the past”.

He said emphasis was being placed on credible training and retraining on the sanctity of human rights observance and protection of the combatants in the battle fields, promising “an improved enforcement of rule and relations of the international standard”.

“As the mop-up operation and mines clearance is intensified in the liberated areas, so also necessary measures are being put in place to ensure that safety and security prevail in those places,” Abubakar said.

However, he said it would definitely require collective effort to detect and apprehend would-be suicide bombers in public places.

Part of that collective effort, Abubakar stated, is the deployment of 8,700-strong regional force at the designated sectors under the newly restructured MNJTF.