Boko Haram 'technically' defeated -President Buhari

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said his country has “technically” won the war against Boko Haram.

Speaking to the BBC, in an interview published on Thursday , the leader of the most populous country in African reassured Nigerians, the Islamists group are no longer unable to organize “conventional attacks” in their strong holds mostly in the North.

“Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices, indoctrinating young girls… to explode in churches and mosque, market places, motor parks, they have now been reduced to that. But articulated conventional attacks on centres of communication, populations in town and so on, they are no longer capable of doing that effectively, so I think technically we have won the war,” said President Buhari.

President Buhari won the elections in May partly on a promise that he was going to crush the Boko Haram. The Islamist group was launched in 2009 in north-eastern Nigeria want to impose an Islamic state.

Dealt With

He added “people are going back into their neighbourhoods, we have our committees on the ground, liaising with local governments through the soldiers”.

President Buhari mention, the major problem faced now is rehabilitation “over 1.5 million people internally displaced persons,repairing Infrastructure, the schools, the health centres and the number of bridges blown” … but Boko Haram as an organised fight folks I can assure you that we have dealt with them”.

Unlike his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, President Buhari has managed to regain territories Boko Haram. The country has also seen a decline in the number of deadly raids that decimated cities and villages.

‘…they cant now march forces and attack towns or attack military installations as they did,”…I don’t think this is mere talking, and we have re-organised the military, brought hard ware for them, we got military training with the British and American, a lot is being done and I think people from those three states where they used to be fighting ground, they know what is happening.

Recently, Boko Haram has carried out suicide bombings in neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger, raising fears that the extremist group is trying to gain ground outside Nigeria.

The rebellion and fierce repression by security forces has left 17,000 dead and 2.6 million displaced since 2009.

An estimated one million children have been forced out of school as a result of violent attacks by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and its neighbouring countries, a new UNICEF report said on Tuesday.

According to UNICEF, the ongoing violence has led to the closure of more than 2,000 schools in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

According to the Global Terrorism Index, a report published by the Institute for Economics and Peace based in New York, Boko Haram “has become the deadliest terrorist organization in the world.”