Terrorists Have Been Degraded, Over 20 Neutralised In One Week -Abubakar
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
The military has insisted that terrorism has been largely degraded in the Northeast, with the elimination of over 20 terrorists within the last one week and the recovery of weapons.
The Theatre Commander, Northeast Joint Task Force, OPERATION HADIN KAI, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Maiduguri, Borno state, while providing update on the ongoing Northeast joint operations.
Nigeria has experienced a surge in attacks by Boko Haram and its splinter rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in recent times. It will be recalled that suspected insurgents killed five soldiers in assaults on two army bases in northeastern Borno state early on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Boko Haram insurgents raided a Nigerian army base in Marte local government area of Borno state, capturing soldiers and ammunition.
The OPHK Commander however insisted that normalcy has been restored in the northeast compared to where we were 5 to 10 years ago. He added that most citizens have returned to their communities and socio-economic activities have resumed, mentioning the recent success stories of Mallam Fatori and Kukawa local government areas in the state, where almost 20,000 internally displaced persons have returned to their ancestral homes.
According to him, “what is happening in Nigeria is not on connected with the situation in the greater Sahel region where barracks of neighboring countries are being ransacked and weapons carted away. These weapons find their way into Nigeria due to our large and porous borders, thereby energizing the fight”.
Abubakar averred further that the conflict rages on because of the deterioration in security among the Sahel states which has affected Nigeria, as well as the relative ease with which terrorists can access technology, to which they have adapted, a case in point being the terrorists’ use of arms drones in carrying out attacks since November 2024. These drones he said, are difficult to detect by conventional radar detection systems.
Speaking on the strategies of the army in the fight against terrorism, Maj. Gen. Abubakar said the Service has been
re-strategizing and reorganising in the last two months, adding that changes have been made in the theatre, one of which is his taking over command of the theatre about two weeks ago.
“Additional platforms and personnel are being deployed into the theater, but what the terrorists have resorted to doing is carrying out multi-pronged attacks on several isolated and vulnerable deployments and using it as a propaganda, which is why we are also reviewing our deployments. Let me reassure you that the overall resolve of the military is that we will completely defeat this terrorism and restore peace today region once and for all in the shortest possible time with just need a support of the nation”, he said.
The theatre Commander, who used the briefing to send a strong message to terrorists, urged them to toe the path of their colleagues who have surrendered and are being humanely treated, or risk being eliminated in the long run, adding that the military is fully resolved and resourced to bring the battle to a favorable conclusion.
He reiterated that troops are highly motivated, and their resilience is not dampened, as several welfare initiatives have been instituted by the military hierarchy which has boosted the morale of troops. “This is the level of seriousness that the government attaches to this conflict and in time we will completely defeat them”.
Abubakar also maintained that security is a collective responsibility and not just for the men in uniform, insisting that Nigerians must continue to assist the military in fishing out bad elements.
He recalled that last week, troops intercepted 13,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), in the middle of the night, headed for a terrorist enclave. This amount of petrol, he said, is enough to keep the terrorists’ motorcycles operational for the next one year.
“Therefore it is expedient that the entire community joins in assisting the military fight terrorism”, he concluded.
