Boko Haram making a comeback – Senator Omo Agege
The senator made the observation during the screening of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees in the upper chamber of the National Assembly on July 25, 2019.
While questioning Bashir Magashi, a nominee, Omo-Agege asked the retired Major General of the Nigerian Army how he would deal with Boko Haram’s resurgence if made the Minister of Defence.
He said, “You know, General, that one of the biggest problems we face in this country today is the problem of insecurity.
“You’ll also recall that before Mr President (Buhari) took office in 2015, most of the northeast was ravaged and taken over by Boko Haram. But the president, drawing from his experience as a retired General, was able to wipe out, for the most part, or at the very least degraded the capacity of, Boko Haram. But there’s this resurgence of late.
“Not only is it resurgence of Boko Haram, but insecurity in that state including banditry in most of the states.
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“As a retired General, should you find yourself privileged to serve in the Defence Ministry, what would you do differently than what the former occupant did?”
Since Boko Haram’s insurgency escalated in 2009, the terrorist group has killed around 30,000 people and displaced millions in the northeast region, with its operations also extending to border countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Even though the powers of the Abubakar Shekau-led main faction of Boko Haram has been on the wane in the past couple of years, another faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has grown in influence and carried out several brutal attacks.
Despite ISWAP’s attacks on military troops and bases over the past year, the Buhari-led government has insisted that the group has been degraded, and limited to only attacking “soft targets”.
In response to Omo-Agege’s question, Magashi said he’ll keep troops motivated to end the war on terror.
“What I’ll do differently is to ensure that rules are obeyed, procedures are followed, welfare is maintained, and every other thing that’ll make troops happy and motivated to perform,” he said.
The ministerial nominee also said it’s important to restructure the Armed Forces for better operational capacity to combat insecurity.
