The war against Boko Haram is largely won- Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed said that the Nigerian military had
met the December deadline to defeat the Boko
Haram terrorists. The minister said this on
Wednesday, December 23, during his maiden
meeting with editorial heads of media houses in
Lagos.
"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."
Mohammed 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."
He, 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.
Mohammed, therefore, urged Nigerians to support
the military in the fight against terrorism in the
country, saying that the military had availed itself
creditably.
"It is our turn as civilians to give them our
support; to realise that the war they are
fighting is not their war alone, but our war,
hence we must own the war."
Mohammed disclosed that a national security
campaign had commenced to raise awareness
among Nigerians about the war, the sacrifices of
our troops, and how to stamp out the remnant of
the war.
"Jingles are being played on national radio
and television as part of the campaign in
order to keep the media better informed
about the war, so that they can also better
inform Nigerians,"
The minister also said that an ad-hoc committee,
comprising media representatives as well as
intelligence agencies, would be inaugurated to
regularly be updated about the war in order to
better inform the public.