TheCable

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, says the north-east is witnessing the end of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Speaking on Tuesday at a meeting of the north-east governor’s forum, Zulum said through the strategic collaboration between the zone and the military, thousands of insurgents had laid their arms and surrendered.

He said the forum will do everything possible to ensure that people go about their businesses unhindered.

“Recent developments seem to indicate that we have reached the beginning of an end of Boko Haram insurgency,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“That explains why the terrorists have been coming out of their enclaves to surrender.

“The situation is overwhelming in its scope and it’s gratifying in its impact.

“After sufficient consultation with the military and other agencies, we came up with strategic initiatives to exploit the situation.

“We deliberately made the insurgents to feel that surrendering was the only cause of action available to them in the face of devastating onslaught by troops.

“That, frankly, weakened the prospects for terrorists to accomplish their devilish actions.

“So far, thousands of Boko Haram have surrendered and we are in the process of profiling them.”

Zulum called on the troops and other security agencies to ensure that they degrade the insurgents’ territory and end the war once and for all.

“We must pursue them because the nexus between security and development cannot be overemphasized,” he added.

In his remarks, Mai Buni, governor of Yobe, said the speedy recovery of the region depends on the resuscitation of the Lake Chad, implementation of the Great Green Wall project and actualising the Mambila Hydro Power project.