Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, says the era of Boko Haram militants has ended as Nigerian soldiers have raided the group’s “last stronghold” in Sambisa forest.
He says the insurgents have finally been crushed.
The president said in a statement that he was “most proud” to receive the “long-awaited and most gratifying news of the final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists”.
“I want to use this opportunity to commend the determination, courage and resilience of troops of operation lafiya dole at finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents at ‘camp zero’, which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa forest,” he added.
President Buhari said the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, informed him that the last camp fell at about 1:35 p.m on Friday.
With the last camp cleared, most of the abducted girls from a secondary school in Chibok on April 14, 2014 are still missing. Only less than 60 of the over 200 girls have been rescued.
Boko Haram had in a video said they have been married off.
1,800 Rescued
This follows the announcement by the Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor, in a news conference in Maiduguri earlier in the week that about 1,880 civilians had been rescued between December 14 and 21, 2016.
With this, it appears that the Military’s assurance to defeat Boko Haram Insurgents by the end of 2016, might be coming to pass.
According to the force, “the era of insecurity, especially the Boko Haram insurgence, would be a thing of the past before the end of December 2016”
The Nigerian Army had however challenged troops in northeast Nigeria to remain committed despite successes being recorded in order to sustain security in the region.
Chibok Girls
Boko Haram launched military operations in 2009 in a bid to create Islamic State in Nigeria, while it declared a caliphate in areas it controlled in 2014.
The insurgents broke into a school dormitory in Chibok town, Maiduguri, Borno state, abducting over 200 schoolgirls on April 14, 2014.
Two years down the line, many have managed to escape from the hands of the terrorists.
In October, a set of 21 girls were released through the collaborative efforts of the security agencies, a friendly European country and a renowned International Humanitarian Organisation, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had told Channels Television.
The girls would be visiting their ancestral home for the first time since their abduction to join their families and friends in celebrating the 2016 Christmas.
This follows weeks of rehabilitation under tight security by the Federal Government of Nigeria and other supporting agencies who worked together to ensure the girls are being well recuperated into the normal lives.
