Posted on: 07:00 Sat, 06 Feb 2016



President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday insisted
that the Boko Haram militant sect has been
technically defeated, despite recent attacks by
the group.

The terrorists’ recent deadly attack was carried
out on Dalori, a village in Borno State, where
about 86 persons were killed.

The militant group was said to have burnt some
children alive when it overran the community,
which is four kilometres away from the capital
city of Maiduguri.

The President had recently said the insurgent
group had been technically defeated, and
speaking to BBC on Friday, he maintained that
indeed the terrorists had been technically
defeated.

“Well, all I know is that out of the 14 Local
Government Areas in Borno State where they
(Boko Haram) used to hold and hoist their flag,
they are nowhere in charge of any of them
again. But they can still regroup and go after
attacking soft targets,” he said.

When the interviewer asked whether it was fair
to say a group which killed over 65 persons in a
single attack had been “technically defeated,”
the President responded, “Well, that’s your own
description of it. My own description is that
they can no longer mobilise enough forces to
attack police and army barracks and destroy
aircraft like they used to do. They can no longer
do that.”

Boko Haram is responsible for the killings of
over 17,000 Nigerians, particularly in the North-
East.
During his electioneering, President Buhari had
promised to defeat the group if elected.