Boko Haram Insurgency Would Not Expand Beyond Northeast – Lt. Gen. Ihejirika

The Nigerian Army declared that sufficient efforts are being made to prevent Boko Haram insurgency from expanding to other parts of the country.

This statement has been made in Abuja by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, during the monthly interactive session with Defence correspondents in his office.

Lt. Gen. Ihejirika said that the Army had begun implementation of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by setting up an office to handle the policy on behalf of the Army.

Since the military has taken the battle to the camps of the insurgents on mountain tops in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the sect has been under a siege and this is largely responsible for an attempt being made to relocate to other states, but the Army said it would never allow that to happen.

"The Nigerian Army will remain eternally vigilant with a view to reducing vulnerability through proactive measures. This is aimed at preventing the spread of terrorism to other parts of the country. These proactive measures have yielded results with the recent arrest in Lagos and Ogun states of 42 suspected terrorists. I, therefore, wish to reassure Nigerians that the Nigerian Army will continue to constantly review its strategies towards greater sophistication in tackling the security challenges facing the country."

According to the COAS, the Army remains "agile and proactive by continually enhancing her capability to pre-empt, dislocate and disrupt terrorist threat. This will be achieved through effective collaboration with other security agencies in order to defeat terrorists and other criminal elements and ensure safety of lives and property of law abiding citizens."

To buttress this position, Lt. Gen. Ihejirika who spoke through the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Attahiru Ibrahim gave out some contacts where members of the public could alert the Army when they perceived the security was under a threat.

The contacts are: 08160030300, 07053333123 and 08191555888 with nigerianarmytips@yahoo.com, nigerianarmytips@gmail.com and nigerianarmytips@hotmail.com.


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