The Defence Headquarters says the armed forces of Nigeria have done well in the fight against terrorism by decimating the potency of the Boko Haram terrorists in the North Eastern part of the country.
The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
Enenche said the initial delay in tackling the menace made it to gain momentum, taking over territories and setting up administrative structures before there were knocked off in 2016 by the military.
He said that the open display of powers and authority by the Boko Haram members no longer exist in the North East, adding that no single district or community could be said to be under the control of the insurgents.
“The issue of bombings that even spread to other places like Abuja, Kano, Niger and Kogi States, including their slipper cells no longer exist.
“What about suicide bombing, which is one of the signs of terrorism? It was rife and even at our checkpoints they come and detonate bombs as well as public gatherings; all these have been nipped properly.
“If you put all these together, I can tell you that terrorism has been checkmated.
“However, the signs are still there with isolated action here and there; common with terrorism,” he said.
Enenche said that history had shown that terrorism was a very resilient type of enemy activity against the people, adding that the type of terrorism in Nigeria was not a smart one, but rooted in the state of mind of a group of people.
He said the Boko Haram and ISWAP forms of terrorism were hybrid threats that had become protracted with immediate and remote causes.
According to him, the actual terrorism started about 10 years ago, it gained momentum and as it were, the state actors then were not clear about the motive, because of other issues that came up.
The spokesperson said the actions of the Federal Government and the military since 2015 had greatly checkmated the intensity of terrorist activities across the country and the North East in particular.
He urged the populace to be bold in coming out to provide information on activities of the terrorists to aid the security agencies to track their locations. (NAN)
