Intercepted Boko Haram terrorists

The Nigerian political-military establishment wants Nigerians to believe that Boko Haram has been technically defeated, flushed out of Nigeria’s territory.

But each day  the Boko Haram militants raid one Nigerian village after another, killing scores as it happened in Dalori, one wonders where the hell the insurgents were coming from. From Chad or Niger or from Cameroon?

Senator Baba Kaka  Bashir Garbai (Borno Central) has now debunked the pervasive propaganda: Boko Haram, he said are still occupying  more than half  of Borno State. Indeed, the senator on sympathy visit to Dalori,  said  most shockingly, that only three local council areas are safe from Boko Haram attacks, because of heavy military presence.

“There is an assumption that most of the local governments in Borno are recaptured from the Boko Haram. In reality this is not true in the real sense,” Garbai said.

“Apart from Maiduguri Metropolis, Kwaya Kusar and Bayo these are the three LGAs that are safe,” Senator Garbai stated.

These areas, according to the senator, are only safe due to the strong military and police presence which maintains “law and order”.

Senator Garbai went on to lament that areas such as Mobbar, Kala Balge, and Abbadam LGAs are 100 percent occupied by the insurgents.

In addition, there are several areas that are partially under the thumb of Boko Haram, according to the senator.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in  a swift response tried to deflate Garbai’s statement, repeating the propaganda that  Boko Haram has indeed been knocked down in Borno and other parts of the Northeast.

Sambisa Forest which Rabe says is 80 kilometres, understates the enormity of the size. The forest, which is 60 kilometres  southeast of Maiduguri, is 60,000 square kilometres or 23,000 square miles.  The forest straddles four states in the north east, Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Bauchi. In Borno, it is administered by four LGAs,  Askira/Uba in the south, by Damboa in the southwest, and by Konduga and Jere in the west. It is not a coincidence that Boko Haram attacks are deadly in all these council areas, especially Damboa and Konduga.

 

But in revealing that  the only battle ground left is in the Sambisa Forest, the about 80 kilometres swathe of thick bush that is the sect’s stronghold, the Defence Headquarters unwittingly buttressed Garbai’s disclosure that  a large part of Borno is still under Boko Haram stranglehold.

Brigadier Gen.   Abubakar  Rabe , DHQ spokesman said: “What is left is Sambisa Forest. That is the last battle ground with the insurgents.

Brig. General Abubakar Rabe: Boko Haram decimated but in Sambisa Forest

“ This Forest is about 80kilometres but I believe very soon, we will overrun the Forest and rout out the insurgents. We will certainly send them packing from the Sambisa Forest.”

“For anyone to make a claim that half of Borno State is under the insurgents is not helping the military. It is just to get media attention. We have decimated Boko Haram. This is the reality”, Rabe told The Nation newspaper.

Sambisa Forest which Rabe says is 80 kilometres, understates the enormity of the size. The forest, which is 60 kilometres  southeast of Maiduguri, is 60,000 square kilometres or 23,000 square miles.  The forest straddles four states in the north east, Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Bauchi. In Borno, it is administered by four LGAs,  Askira/Uba in the south, by Damboa in the southwest, and by Konduga and Jere in the west. It is not a coincidence that Boko Haram attacks are deadly in all these council areas, especially Damboa and Konduga.

At least we now know  from Garbai’s statement and DHQ’s response that Boko Haram insurgents are still on Nigeria’s territory, living fine in Sambisa, from where they plot the bombings and raids of unprotected Nigerian communities and make forays into neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

And until Nigeria is able to confront the insurgents in their Sambisa den, it may not be ‘technically’, right to say that Boko Haram has been ‘technically’ defeated.

On the contrary, the insurgents are still a potent force capable of inflicting great damage on the hapless villagers, whose homes and lives they destroy wantonly.

Nigeria still has a lot of work to do in combating the insurgency. We agree with  Rabe that it is not the duty of the military alone. It is a pan-Nigerian burden, our collective nightmare.