Minister lauds coalition forces on Boko Haram

The coalition of multinational forces of Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, coupled with the purchase of more military hardware, are responsible for the defeat of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna, made the observation during his assessment tour of Michika and Madagali Local Government Areas of Adamawa State.

He spoke to newsmen at the weekend, against the backdrop of insinuations that the insurgency, which had existed for almost five years, was being curtailed under six weeks, thereby, prompting people to castigates the government.

He said that no responsible government would contribute to the killing of its citizens and the wanton destruction of their property, under the guise of politics.

“When Nigeria had not entered into an agreement with Chad, Cameroun and Niger, the Boko Haram terrorists were, virtually, operating from the territories of our neighbours. They attacked here and returned there, thereby, making it, extremely, difficult for our military to get a full grip of the situation”, he explained.

Speaking further he said, “even as an individual, if you run into an attack of armed bandits in your compound and your immediate neighbour co-operates with you, surely, you would overcome the sad experience, but the situation was different with the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents that have international collaborators. If not for the co-operation of our immediate neighbours, it could have taken much longer time to deal with the situation”, Haruna maintained.

The Minister, who stated that he was not speaking for the Nigerian military, said, however, that as a victim of the insurgents’ attack and a major stakeholder in Adamawa State, he was speaking on the issue without any bias.

He maintained that the new military hardware, acquired by the Federal Government, to fight the extremists, also played a very crucial role in repelling the invaders.

According to him, at the initial stage of the problem, government had believed that the Police and other para-military outfits could handle the situation, thus, this led to the prolonged conflict.