Insurgency ends December, military insists

as NLC urges them not to be weakened by latest bombings

The Nigerian Army says the December deadline set by the Presidency to end the spate of attacks and bombings by the Boko Haram insurgents is sacrament, insisting everything is being done to achieve it.

Yushau Abubakar (a major general), the theatre commander, Operation “Lafiya Dole,” gave the assurance while speaking in Maiduguri, saying no amount of distractions (referring to Friday’s bombings in Abuja) would determine the military from ending the insurgency by the end of this year.

He pointed out that the bombings were aimed at diverting the attention of the military from achieving its target in the ongoing anti-terrorism war.

“I want to assure all that for every second that passes, we get more committed to fighting the insurgents; we cannot be deterred. We are doing as much as we could to ensure that we completely eradicate the insurgents as quickly as possible because we are aware of the timeline within which to complete the task,” he said.

He said the military had already gotten clues about those involved in the recent suicide bombings in Maiduguri, adding “we searched the houses and certain items that we recovered at the vicinity, gave us some clues.”

He said although investigations had commenced on the clues, it would take time before reaching a conclusion, saying, “investigation on those that we suspect that are either participating or hiding, fuelling or conniving with those that carried out those acts, is ongoing. They will be exposed in due course.”

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the military not to be weekend by the seemingly re-entry of the insurgents into the nation’s capital.

Ayuba Wabba, president of one of the two factions of the NLC, in a statement issued and made available to the media, weekend, said the latest bombings might have been carried out to rubbish the victories being recorded by the military fighting the insurgency.

“These latest attacks are particularly dangerous as they were carried out at night and in locations where late purchases are made. One of the locations, Kuje, is on the route to our major international airport. The attacks may have been a devious façade to rubbish the victories of our national army and other security agencies in the battle to rid our country of terrorism and all its residues before the global community. They want the world to believe our country is not safe.

“For us at the NLC, we believe this latest attacks should not weaken the morale of the forces involved in the battle against terrorism in our country, rather it should reinvigorate their fighting spirits and be seen by government as a challenge to arm our forces with more sophisticated and superior weapons both for intelligence gathering and combat,” said Wabba.

The NLC also urged the security agencies not to limit their intelligence or investigation to Boko Haram as there have also been recent reports that some militant groups in the Niger Delta region planned to resume violent attacks against Nigerians and the Nigerian State as a corporate entity.

“We urge all Nigerians to see the battle against terrorism as our collective battle and therefore every resident must make information about suspicious movements or behaviours in and around them available to relevant security agencies who must act on such information in our collective national interests,” said Wabba.