Sixty per cent of Boko Haram terrorists not Nigerians – Buratai
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur
Buratai, on Wednesday said that judging by the current activities of the
Boko Haram terrorists, 60 per cent of them are not Nigerians.
Buratai said this in Maiduguri when he
received the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Dr.
Mohammed Ibn Chambas, at the headquarters of the Theatre Command of
Operation Lafiya Dole at the Maimalari Cantonment.
He said, “Your Excellency, I want to
bring to your attention that while the Boko Haram insurgency can be said
to have started in Nigeria, by and large as at today, I can say that
almost 60 per cent of the insurgents are from our neighbouring
countries.
“You can see that almost all of the recently surrendered insurgents are not Nigerians.
“This is a challenge that impacts more
on the Nigerian side than the other countries. But by and large, our
military is up to the task and we will continue to do our best to ensure
that our country is secured.”
He said that there was no doubt that the
terrorists had been defeated but added that troops would continue with
their operations until the insurgents finally surrender.
The army chief thanked the UN for
identifying with Nigeria in its efforts to rout-out the terrorists and
solicited additional support from the world body.
Speaking earlier, Dr Chambas said that
his visit was an expression of the UN’s identification with Nigeria in
the fight against Boko Haram and efforts to restore peace to the
North-East region.
He restated the UN’s condemnation of the
terrorists’ group, adding “we are behind the Federal Government’’ in
its efforts to defeat the terrorists.
Chambas noted that the immediate
consequence of the insurgency was the “huge humanitarian crisis’’ in the
North-East and assured him that the UN had stepped up efforts to
address it.
He called on the international community and donor agencies to come to the aid of Nigeria in addressing the crisis.
He said that Nigeria had always been involved in the UN peacekeeping missions across the world.
The UN representative used the occasion
to commiserate with the Federal Government, the Nigerian Army and
families of late Lt. Col. Muhammad Abu-Ali, who along with six other
soldiers were killed by the insurgents on Nov. 4.
He said that their sacrifices and those
of others who had died in the course of the war would not be in vain as
Nigeria would be supported to win the war.
No comments: