Why Buhari can’t guarantee end to Boko Haram insurgency – Presidency

The Presidency has said there is no guarantee that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will eradicate Boko Haram insurgency.

Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, explained that such promise can’t be made because Boko Haram has become a global challenge.

Featuring on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, Shehu stated that Boko Haram has “faded away” during Buhari’s administration.

He stated that the federal government was doing all it can to tackle banditry and kidnapping.

According to Shehu: “I can’t promise you that Boko Haram will or will not be eradicated but it is an ongoing challenge globally even in the more advanced, more weaponised nations, it is still a challenge.

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“I am happy that there is a realisation that there is shifting ground. When the president came in in 2015, the big issue was Boko Haram. Boko Haram has faded away, it is on the way out but new challenges have arisen. You have mentioned banditry and kidnappings and these ones are being tackled.

“Recent successes have been recorded, look at what for instance, the police are doing, operation Puff Adder that they launched. They have netted in over 150 suspected kidnappers and bandits and they have recovered huge quantities of weapons, guns, surprisingly, locally made semi-automatic weapons, revolvers that have multiple cartridges in Anambra, Plateau and Zamfara.

“The attacks you just mentioned is still a far cry from those attacks that we had seen in the past. They are being pushed away farther from the national population. We had mentioned this thing about cheap availability of weapons in the country and across borders.

“As it is now, our security services are coming to terms with the fact that that is one area they have to tackle. The source of weapons whether locally manufactured or brought from abroad has to be tackled otherwise, it is like oxygen to crime.”