Boko Haram is planning to kidnap more schoolgirls – Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government of Nigeria has sent out
a warning to the nation that Boko Haram
insurgents are plotting to carry out another
large scale abduction of school girls or
foreigners.
The FG reports that in a bid to regain credibility,
raise funds and get food supplies, the terrorist
sect would embark on a sensational and daring
kidnapping mission to show that they are not as
depleted as the Nigerian Army reports them to
be.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai
Mohammed, stated that the terrorist are now
focused on targets that can be easily hit after
being dislodged from their stronghold and their
capacity to stage spectacular attack degraded.
The Minister also said that even though the
terrorists have now concentrated on soft
targets like motor parks, schools and
entertainment centres, they have been reduced
to the point of not being able to stage any big
attack.
''The kidnap of the Chibok girls in 2014, which
attracted global attention to the terrorist group,
is what it is now trying to repeat, hoping it can
find vulnerable targets, especially schools, or a
group of foreigners outside the frontline states.
''The plan by Boko Haram is also part of an
overall strategy by the terrorists to seek to
negatively impact on the psyche of the gallant
troops who have routed them (terrorists) from
their stronghold and also give the impression
that they have not been largely defeated by the
December 2015 deadline given by this
Administration to effectively degrade the insurgency in the North-east.
''This is why we have decided to issue this
alert to enable the authorities of both public
primary and secondary schools in remote
locations, particular in the Northern states, to
upgrade security arrangements.
''It is also aimed at alerting the general public,
operators of hotels and entertainment centres,
motor parks and similar facilities to also
upgrade their security arrangements for the
holidays.'' The Minister said.
Lai Mohammed also assured the nation that as
the military has recorded its victory against the
terrorists in accordance to its December
deadline, the FG will continually build on the success of the military.
''Smoked out of their hideouts and badly
bruised by our gallant military, the Boko Haram
terrorists are desperate, especially in the face of
the depletion of their food supplies. In their
desperation, they will not hesitate to embark on
actions they feel can still make them relevant or
enhance their survival. But the military is ready
and able to prevent that.'' The Minister said.