Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says
Boko Haram is no longer a serious fighting force.
Osinbajo said this on Tuesday
while speaking at the opening of the 8th edition of the 2018 national security
seminar.
The seminar which has the theme
‘The Fighting Tomorrow’s Warfare Today’ was organised by the Alumni Association
of the National Defence College (AABDEC).
The vice-president said the
insurgents would do anything to continue feeding off “the oxygen of media
attention.”
“They (Boko Haram) will alter
their goals and objectives at random, and are capable of doing anything and
everything to continue feeding off the oxygen of media attention,” the
vice-president said.
“Yet this should not be
interpreted as meaning that we fighting an unwinnable war. We can boldly say
that today Boko Haram is no longer a serious fighting force.
“We have to be strategic in our
approach, responding not out of panic or fear, but out of a determination to
secure our nation and keep our people safe not only from terrorism but from
every other threat they face. We must fight them on multiple fronts, starve
them of funding and resources, of sympathisers, and of the oxygen of publicity,
especially on the Internet.”
Osinbajo said the army must focus
its strength on expanding conventional and developing a robust capacity to take
the fight outside its comfort zones.
He said the occasional setbacks
recorded in the fight against the insurgents is not unique to Nigeria.
“Two weeks ago one such incident
took place, in the town of Dapchi, in Yobe state. Suspected Boko Haram
terrorists attacked a girls’ secondary school, abducting 110 girls. And then
last week, the attacks on a humanitarian camp in Rann in Borno state,” he said.
“Both incidents have received
widespread condemnation from around the world. They are reminders of the
absolute ruthlessness of the enemy – and the fact that it will resort to
increasingly desperate and callous moves on our most vulnerable people and
places, even as its losses mount.Very often, the campaign of violence is
foiled, thankfully.
“Towards the end of 2017, the
Global Terrorism Index reported that terrorism deaths in Nigeria fell by 80
percent between 2015 and 2016. That figure of 80 percent represents countless
Boko Haram attacks prevented from happening by the efforts of the Nigerian
military. We must never forget that.
“Frustratingly, however, all that
a terrorist group requires to be deemed extraordinary is for it to record a
high-profile success every now and then.”
He said the job of the government
is not an easy one “but there should be no room for self-pity or frustration on
our part.”
“More than ever before we are
mobilizing to ensure that schools in the North-east are kept secure from Boko
Haram,” Osinbajo said.
On his part, Jonathan Tamlong,
president of AABDEC, said the army must develop a culture of taking bold and
calculated risks.
“The military must develop a
culture of experimentation and taking bold and calculated risks. Nuclear and
other weapons of mass destruction are already being proliferated in many
nations whose ability to effect our control access to such controlled weapons
is sometimes in doubt,” Tamlong said.
“Should some of these fall into wrong
hands, there would be serious challenges to the survival of generations of
people.
“Today, the non-state criminal
actors are engaging national armies in asymmetrical warfare. Though they do not
have airplanes or nuclear capability yet, they have continued to give the
national armies and coalitions tough times, occupying territories, inflicting
massive pains and deaths on the populace.
“At the rate states are failing,
armouries being looted and porous borders remain largely unmanned, greater
challenges lie ahead. This is noting that criminal groups keep increasing in
number and prevalent conditions on a global scale make it so easy for them to
recruit members.
“There is therefore no gainsaying
that we must intensity our efforts to deal with the asymmetric populace of
today and prepare to face the emerging more complex trends in tomorrow’s
warfare.”
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I'm highly disappointed even when they still have power to adopt our children recently? let's stop deceiving ourselves because God will be angry with this statement
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