Defence minister Mansur Dan-Ali, on Tuesday finally disclosed that the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is still alive and at large, contrary to several claims of his death. The Nigerian Armed Forces are still on a haunt for him.
The Nigerian Army had at different times insisted that it had killed the original Shekau as others were mere makeovers. Shekau had on many occasions shown up in a video mocking the government and its armed forces.
However, speaking to journalists at the State House, Abuja, after taking his turn to brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of his ministry, the Defence minister said despite staging his death on several occasions the search is still on for him and the armed forces will not rest until they got him.
According to him the security forces have decimated and now occupied the Sambisa forest which served as Boko Haram’s spiritual headquarters and will continue ransacking the place for Shekau’s whereabout.
“I believe it is just a matter of time. It took America about seven to ten years to get Bin Laden. So. we will get Shekau as soon as possible.
“The sect’s spiritual headquarters has been ransacked and vandalised. He (Shekau) is on the run.
“He may be hiding in one of the enclaves of Sambisa Forest which we are dominating.
“We have opened up the place. We are using the place as a training area. The Army engineers will open up roads and we shall be patrolling and be ransacking that forest for the whereabouts of Shekau”.
Reminded that the government had at different times claimed that Shekau had been killed, the minister said, “These insurgents have a way of putting on a mask. There could be so many but we are looking for the real one. They have been using a mask to portray Shekau in one incidents or the other to give an impression that he has been killed
so that we will relax. But we will not relax, we are on him.”
Dan-Ali said he also briefed the President about the security situation in the country and he was impressed with the performance of the armed forces.
Acknowledging that it was difficult to achieve 100 percent, he said the government is working hard to ensure that there is peace in all parts of the country.
According to him, the President directed the security forces to do more adding that they also requested for more equipment.
“The directive is that we should do more. The more we put our efforts the more Nigeria gets safer. We are doing our best and we have also requested for more in terms of equipment” he said.
The minister said they also touched on the issue of Internally Displaced Persons across the country adding that the government was interested in seeing the IDPs return to their homes so that economic activities can pick up in the deserted villages.
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