‘Don’t be carried away by Boko Haram propaganda’

A four-day African Land Summit ended on Thursday last week. Shortly after the closing ceremony a telephonic press conference was conducted to enable journalists within and outside the country to ask questions. MUSA UMAR BOLOGI participated in the conference and transcribed the responses of the Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff , Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Excerpts:
What is the level of intelligence-sharing and coordination with African forces across the Sahel? Lt. Gen. Buratai: The issue of the security challenges within the Sahara and Sahel region, which Nigeria also lays, we have virtually the same challenges.
The porous border is one of the major challenges that we are having, and encountering the violent and extreme organizations like Boko Haram in this regard. The vast land within the Lake Chad basin region is a challenge to us; it is equally a challenge to whoever that is venturing into these territories. So we also take advantage of that, to see that we get the right mobility, we get the right troops to be deployed through the use of the Special Forces to ensure that we address these challenges and degrade the Boko Haram terrorists.
Collaboration with the neighboring countries through the Multinational Joint Task Force is very important. It is crucial to our efforts to see to the complete eradication of the Boko Haram terrorists within the region.
The efforts of the Multinational Joint Task Force they are quite fundamental, in the sense that there is need for us to continue to work together, to bring our forces together, and this is being done right now with the bilateral as well as the multilateral arrangement within the countries of the Lake Chad region. As it is, our troops are operating alongside each other.
Therefore, there is need for closer cooperation, and this summit, the African Land Summit here in Abuja, emphasizes community strength. We need to unify all our forces on the ground as well as to ensure that we get the right political support, the right direction, -including the soft-power approachwhich includes deradicalisation. There should be community development of these areas, in terms of road infrastructure, in terms of establishment of health facilities, including schools, transportation – both land as well as rail- and including improving the Lake Chad whereby more economic opportunity will be brought back for a better livelihood to sustain the growing population in the Sahel region.
How true it is that Boko Haram has been defeated; and how do you go about changing the narrative on countering violent extremism? Lt. Gen. Buratai: These questions have always been asked, and it depends on your own point of view or how you see what Boko Haram is. You look at it, first of all, where we are coming from and where we are, and probably where we’ll be headed to. You can see that we’ve made tremendous progress. Boko Haram, as a formidable force that used to move around freely within the northeast, and indeed across the country. Between 2014 to 2015 were in Sokoto, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi. So if you look at it since 2015, we don’t have any major attack outside the northeast, and whole of 2017 there was no single attack outside the northeast.
So within this context you will agree with me that the Boko Haram has been defeated. Now if you go further, to confirm our position, even within the northeast now where we have the bombings and a few isolated attacks on soft targets, these are generally, the terrorist tactics. I mentioned it earlier that the terrorists are always very resilient.
They never give up that easily in terms of their own ideology and their beliefs. A single person can take a place, a target, and with very widespread propaganda, as one of their tactics, you believe that the whole country is aff ected, but that is not the case. If you are in Maiduguri or any part of the northeast that before 2015, you will know the diff erence. I am sure those in Maiduguri and other parts of the northeast will tell you Boko Haram has been defeated. That is not far from the truth. It is very correct. Boko Haram is restricted within very few isolated areas and they are not in one place per se, but they are always moving from one location to the other.
That is why we continue to pursue them as they move from one point to the other. We need to pursue them and clear the remnant. We were not in Sambisa Forest two years ago, but today we are fi rmly rooted inside the Sambisa Forest. Along the border areas, maybe along the Cameroon-Chad, they always cross and attack, but with the combined effort of all our forces with the neighboring countries, we are working together to get them contained appropriately. The narrative that Boko Haram has been defeated is changing, as far as I am concern. That is why those communities that were uprooted from their ancestral homes have started moving back to their communities.
We hope very soon all those areas that the people have been displaced they will go back to their communities and resettle back and restart their lives again. This is something that we must do deliberately. Not something that we will wait until we have a situation whereby people have to be forced into those communities. We have to persuade them. We have to apply all the necessary means available to provide the social amenities. So, Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation has been defeated within the Nigerian soil. When we say defeat, it means it will not be able to hold any ground. The Boko Haram will not be able to move freely as they were doing before. Importantly, our troops are fully deployed across the theatre of operations in the northeast, and I assure you that the majority of the people in the northeast now are quite contented and happy with the security situation.
That is what is expected; that’s what we expect to happen; and that is a major achievement in that regard.
Do not be carried away by the Boko Haram propaganda. unfortunately, a single suicide bomb attack will make the highest number of headlines across our media platforms, but a single success of our troops or even 10 or 20 attacks averted by our troops every day, people don’t tend to even pay attention to that. So, the narrative is in our minds. If the people choose to be held hostage on the Boko Haram propaganda, then we continue to remain in the presence of this Boko Haram; and we will continue to submit ourselves to unnecessary stress, which, I believe, is unnecessary.
The summit excluded the immigration services, which are responsible for monitoring and maintaining security on our borders. Are we expecting an expansion of this summit to include the immigration services next year in Botswana? Lt. Gen. Buratai: Please take note that the Africa Land Forces Summit, as it is conceived, is essentially meant for the armies of the African countries who work in conjunction with the United States Army. It is essentially the initiative of the United States, and we have seen, one of the major challenges, especially when you talk of defense and security, the land forces play a very critical role in that regard.
And the base of their own position says that the challenges regarding to the land forces be addressed. The inclusion of immigration is an issue that has to do with its own true functions. We have taken this issue of migration, especially when it comes to small arms and large weapons that are being smuggled across the borders. I did mention at the beginning that our borders are so porous and so wide. We want to believe the African Land Forces Summit will provide a platform, even on limited basis, where we can discuss and in this, possibly include issues of immigration and other related matters. Right now, the cross-border incursions by various violent and extremist organisations are a major problem that we are confronting.
The use of the Land Forces Summit to address these issues even at the theoretical or at the intellectual level is quite fundamental, and with these addition we have made, I think there could be a position that the U.S. and Africa may look at it in the future to see the participation of critical public sectors of defense and security as well as the issue of trans-border and immigration issues will be brought into call for consideration.

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