Despite the selected bomb attacks by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, the Nigerian military said it was close to wiping out the insurgents in the north-eastern parts of the country.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, who disclosed this said that for the fact that the insurgents had resorted to suicide attacks was an indication that it was close to being defeated.
While inspecting projects at the Logistics Command of the Force in Lagos, Abubakar said that Boko Haram insurgents would never have the opportunity to move in convoy and kill people in various villages and towns in the North East, adding that the Nigerian Armed Forces was determined to end the war in December 2015.
“The suicide attacks are signs of frustration by Boko Haram insurgents, but the main battle field where you have about 15 vehicles moving in convoy from one village to the other killing people is not happening now. This isolated cases of bombing are signs of frustrations on the part of Boko Haram. We are doing everything humanly possible to make sure that Nigerians are secured and we are doing our jobs in such a way that no territory of this country will be under Boko Haram,” he said.
Abubakar denied that the Federal Government and the Nigerian military had engage mercenaries to assist it in defeating the Boko Haram insurgents, noting that a report of the military engaging South African mercenaries was not true.
He explained that the Armed Forces of Nigeria was capable of defeating the insurgents, especially with its highly committed personnel, “who are hardworking; who are courageous, and we are doing everything humanly possible to deal with the situation in the north-east and other security challenges within the country.”
While assuring that the military was doing all in its powers to trace the whereabouts of the over-200-schoolgirls abducted from Chibok Secondary School, in Borno State, Abubakar expressed hope that the girls would be found and rescued from Boko Haram.
He said that the project he was inspecting was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives that the welfare of the officers and men must be taken care of, adding that while fighting a war the force works towards ensuring the welfare of its men.
He said that the Air Force was working towards ensuring that all personnel of the force had befitting accommodation, adding that it was only when they were given their entitlement that they were likely to do a good job.
On the recently crashed aircraft of the force, Abubakar denied insinuation that the aircraft crashed due to substandard platforms, but revealed that the fighter plane came down due to bad weather in the theatre of operations.
source-->Dailytimes.com.ng