ICC Note: Despite the claims made by the Nigerian government, that Boko Haram has been defeated, Boko Haram continues to take new territories. The former vice president spoke in a closed door meeting, saying that nowhere is safe anymore.
09/11/2018 Nigeria (All Africa) – Presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday in Jigawa State said the extremist group, Boko Haram, was taking back Nigerian territories hitherto recovered by troops.
The former vice president spoke after a closed-door meeting with a fellow Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Sule Lamido, at the latter’s home in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital.
“In terms of security whether south or north, there’s no where that is secure. In the north we have kidnapping, fight between farmers/herdsmen, all kind of things.
“If you look at also the security, even the Boko Haram that they said they are going to defeat, they haven’t defeated Boko Haram, Boko Haram have started retaking territories. So this is the worst administration since the return of democracy from 1999 in the country,”: Mr Abubakar said.
The presidential aspirant did not elaborate on the new territories allegedly retaken by the terror group.
Although, the federal government has repeatedly said the Boko Haram no longer controls any Nigerian territory, the group has been able to carry our major attacks on military bases and civilian communities despite security presence.
One of such attacks occurred on Saturday when Boko Haram members attacked a military base and neigbouring communities in Guzamala Local Government Area. Hundreds of residents of the affected communities have since moved to other areas including the Borno State capital, Maiduguri; although the military said it has retaken the attacked towns.
The Boko Haram insurgency has caused about 100,000 deaths since 2009, according to the Borno State Government. The insurgents have, since the Muhammadu Buhari administration assumed office in 2015, been largely limited to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in North-eastern Nigeria. Before then, they freely carried out attacks in Abuja, Kaduna, Niger and other Northern Nigerian states.
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