President Muhammadu Buhari had, upon assuming office, issued a December 31 deadline to the military to defeat the Boko Haram terrorists. During his maiden meeting with editorial heads of media houses in Lagos, Lai Mohammed said:
“Today, I can report that the war against Boko Haram is largely won.
“I can confidently say this because just recently, I led a group of 33 journalists from both the local and international media to the hot bed of the insurgency, that is, Maiduguri, Kondugua, Kaoure and Bama.
Today, I can report to you that the entire 70 plus kilometres stretch from Maiduguri to Bama and all the way to Banki which leads to Cameroun and the Central African Republic are in the hands of our gallant troops.”
He said the military presence could be felt ‘’every few metres along the road; at a point along that road we were just a kilometre to Sambisa forest.
“They have so degraded the capacity of Boko Haram that the terrorists can no longer hold on to any territory just as they can no longer carry out any spectacular attack.”
Mohammed, however, said that though there were still cases of suicide bombings, it was pertinent to note that such was the nature if insurgency globally.
“Unlike a war between two armies, an insurgency never ends with arms victory
“Even in countries like Colombia where insurgency was supposed to have ended decades ago, attacks like this still happen.”
He said that the insurgents had adopted a new style of attacking soft targets like motor parks, schools, entertainment centres, religious centres, killing innocent people mostly women and children.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to support the military in the fight against terrorism in the country, saying that the military had availed itself creditably.
