Army vows to finish off Boko Haram by December

Scene of a Boko Haram bomb attack
Scene of an earlier Boko Haram bomb attack
Scene of a Boko Haram attack

The Nigerian Army said on Sunday that no amount of distractions would deter it from ending the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria by December.

The Theatre Commander, Operation “Lafiya Dole”, Yushau Abubakar, gave this assurance while speaking in Maiduguri.

The army’s December target is a bid to implement a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari asking the army to defeat the insurgents in three months.

Mr. Abubakar’s statement on Sunday was a reaction to recent spate of suicide bombings by suspected insurgents in some parts of the country.

He said the bombings were aimed at diverting the attention of the military from achieving its target in the ongoing anti-terrorism war.

“I want to assure all that for every second that passes, we get more committed to fighting the insurgents; we cannot be deterred.

“We are doing as much as we could to ensure that we completely eradicate the insurgents as quickly as possible because we are aware of the timeline within which to complete the task,” he said.

He said that the military had already gotten clues about those involved in the recent suicide bombings in Maiduguri.

“We searched the houses and certain items that we recovered at the vicinity, gave us some clues,” Mr. Abubakar said.

He said that although investigations had commenced on the clues, it would take time before reaching a conclusion.

“Investigation on those that we suspect that are either participating or hiding, fuelling or conniving with those that carried out those acts, is ongoing.

“They will be exposed in due course,” Mr. Abubakar assured.

He appealed to Nigerians to be security conscious to avoid future occurrence.

“The citizens need to know that security is their personal responsibility as individuals.

“They must be able to secure themselves and doing so means they need to be security conscious.

“Any suspicious movement within the environment should be reported to security agents immediately,” he advised

Mr. Abubakar said that the military was working on a strategy that would enable individuals pass vital information to security agents without being noticed.

About 20,000 people have been killed in Northern Nigeria since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009.