The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, has declared that the
wanted leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau, is
still alive and hiding in his fortress in Sambisa Forest.
He said that Shekau wears masks to evade being captured by security operatives.
Before the minister’s declaration on Tuesday that Shekau is alive,
the military authorities had maintained that the Boko Haram leader had
been killed by troops.
Ali said that Shekau’s tactics notwithstanding, the fugitive
would be eventually caught, especially as the military had decimated
the core of the forest, which served as the communication and spiritual
base of the insurgent group that has killed and maimed thousands of
Nigerians over a six-year orgy of violence.
Ali spoke to journalists after he met with President Muhammadu
Buhari in a closed-door security briefing at the State House, Abuja.
He was responding to questions on the continued attacks by Boko
Haram despite its reported defeat and why Shekau has been elusive to
security agents even after reports of his killing several times.
Ali, a retired Army Brigadier-General, said that “if you have been
opportuned to go to Sambisa, you will know that Boko Haram has been
defeated. We have dominated the whole stronghold where they used to
be.”
“Camp Zero, their spiritual headquarters which they were using as a
communication base was destroyed and at the same time occupied by our
men of the armed forces.”
“I believe it’s just a matter of time. It took America about seven
to 10 years to get Bin Laden, so we will get Shekau as soon as possible.
The spiritual headquarters has been ransacked and vandalised, he is
on the run, so he may be hiding in one of the enclaves of Sambisa
Forest which we are dominating.”
“We have opened up the place, we are using the place as a training
area where Army engineers will open roads; we shall be patrolling and
ransacking that forest for the whereabouts of Shekau.”
“These insurgents have a way of putting masks, there could be so
many but we are looking for the real one. He has been using masks to
portray Shekau in one incident or the other to give an impression that
he has been killed so that we will relax but we will not relax, we are
on him,” he said.
The minister also spoke of his discussion with the President which
centred on the security in the country, and described it as fruitful,
adding that Buhari was impressed with the performance of the armed
forces.
According to Ali, the President directed that “we should do more;
the more we put our efforts, the more Nigeria gets safer. We are doing
our best and we have also requested for more in terms of equipment and I
can categorically tell you that the Nigerian armed forces have turned
to professional armed forces.”
“The small arms competition was done last almost 11 years ago, so
also the sports. So, you can see we are joining the professionalism
with the security challenges that is happening in the country.”
The minister added that the briefing with the President also
touched on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with a commitment to
ensure that they return home and continue their normal businesses and
contribute to economic empowerment of their communities.
source:Breakingtimes
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