Atiku says Boko Haram is far from being defeated

– Ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar believes that Boko Haram is still strong enough to cause major scare in the country

– His statement contradicts President Muhammadu Buhari’s claims that the dare-devil terrorists have been defeated

– Atiku says until everybody returns to their normal activities, we cannot say that the problem is over

Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari over claims by his government that Boko Haram has been defeated.

According to the ex-vice president who spoke at the 11th Founder’s Day Ceremony of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), in Yola, Adamawa state on Saturday, Boko Haram still retains the capacity to carry out occasional deadly attacks.

This statement is in sharp contrast to what President Buhari and Nigeria’s minister of Information, Lai Mohammed had said about Boko Haram being decimated.

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Atiku Abubakar warns that the fight against Boko Haram is far from over.

This counter claim by Atiku who is in the same All Progressives Congress (APC) party with Buhari is another clear sign that the unrest in the party is not nearing its end.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Atiku said: “The insurgents still occupy a specific geographical space. They (Boko Haram) still retain the capacity for occasional deadly attacks. Many citizens in the zone still remain vulnerable and live in fear.

“We cannot say that the problem is over until every displaced person is able to return home, to the office, to the market, to the farm, and resume normal activities.

READ ALSO: Just in: Boko Haram kills 22 in Borno villages

“We cannot say it is over until we rebuild the schools, the churches, the hospitals, the markets, and the homes that had been destroyed. And we cannot say it’s over until the survivors of this insurgency receive the help they need, including psychological therapy to deal with the trauma that they have been through.

“I visited an IDP camp on Saturday and had the privilege of teaching a math class to some children. But the site of hundreds of children running around and unable to attend school was very gut wrenching. It still breaks my heart.

“So we cannot say the insurgency is over until all the displaced children return to their schools.

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President Muhammadu Buhari believes that the insurgents have been decimated.

“And, as I indicated last year, it would not be enough for people to simply return to their pre-insurgency lives. We must do better than that otherwise we would only have papered over the wound without really treating it.

“People must return to something better, to hope, to improved schools, to improved economic opportunities, to freedom of worship and improved inter-religious harmony.”

Meanwhile, about thirty-seven Boko Haram suspects have been arrested by the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army in Lagos and Ogun states within the last 15 months.

The outgone General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Maj.Gen. Isidore Edet, disclosed this on Wednesday, November 16, in Lagos in during his hand over to his successor, Maj Gen Ebenezer Oyefolu.

Edet said the division apprehended the terrorists in different parts of the two states, NAN reports.

He said: “As Boko Haram is being defeated in the northeast, the terrorists run to other parts of the country. We ensure they are arrested irrespective of where they run to. Lagos is not an exception, we have continued to arrest them and hand them over to the necessary agency. We have arrested over 37 of them from August last year when I took over to this month.”