NIgeria’s immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General, Tukur Buratai has sayst it will take the country another twenty years to completely decimate Boko Haram insurgents.
Buratai made the predication when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday for his screening and confirmation as a non- career ambassador.
Federal lawmakers listened with disbelief written on their faces as Buratai said another two decades before Nigeria can uproot Boko Haram and its doctrines planted more than fifty years ago in parts of the North.
He said Boko Haram has over time warmed its way into the hearts of villagers who now harbour them in their homes adding that the situation was made worse with the vast “ungovernable space” in the North.
According to the former Chief of Army Staff, the military cannot win the fight against Boko Haram the current way things are being handled.
He said aside equipping the military; there is the need to train more personnel.
Also Read: Troops kill several Boko Haram insurgents, capture arms and ammunition in Borno
Buratai was Nigeria’s Chief of Staff when government in 2019 said it had “technically” defeated Boko Haram.
During his screening, the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin (rtd), told the lawmakers that he had warned that Nigeria’s biggest security threat will come from its wide and unmanned forests.
Olonisakin said he conducted a research on the forests in 2018 and called the attention of State Governors of the area to the imminent danger that has now manifested in the form of banditry in different parts of the country.
Olonisakin who was Chief of Defence staff for Sixty-six months echoed the position of Buratai when he said the solution to Nigeria’s security challenge is multi-pronged and requires all hands be on deck.
Editor-Oloyede Oworu
