Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has restated the Federal Government’s commitment to tracking and locating the missing Chibok girls.
He said it was important for the military to adopt less lethal procedures when compared with the drastic measures employed by neigbouring countries along the Sambisa Forest.
The minister said the public should hail the military and provide information to further decapitate insurgents.
Mohammed, who spoke on a Channels TV programme, Sunrise, via phone, said: “We are a bit constrained. I know that some countries have set fire around the Sambisa forest to smoke out the Boko Haram insurgents, but we are being careful because we are still looking for the Chibok girls and we do not want unnecessary collateral casualties.
“I know that many of our neighbours like Mali and Niger have employed certain procedures. Because of our major objective that we are still looking for the Chibok girls, so in some parts of Sambisa forest, we cannot adopt such drastic approaches.”
The minister stated that prior to the assumption of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the entire Northeast was almost taken over by the insurgents.
He restated the need to applaud the military for recovering about 20 local governments from the entire councils lose to the sect.
“People must own the war. They must report suspicious movements and complement efforts of the military. How many bars or football viewing centres in Lagos can you secure? No, but if you have enough information to beef up security, it would help,” he added.
“That is absolutely incorrect. It is possible for insurgents to lay ambush on the road. It doesn’t mean that they are in control of those local governments. I travelled 89 kilometres from Maiduguri to Bama.
“We are not saying we are going to route or eliminate ambush or attacks overnight; it’s never done in any insurgency. But what we are just giving the fact, less than a year ago, the entire Northeast was almost in their control, today they don’t have that kind of command.
“It’s just about one local government that they have swayed at all,” the minister said.
He emphasised that the public should complement efforts of the military by contributing to intelligence gathering.
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