True? Boko Haram No Longer Occupying Any Area In Borno

A senator from Borno State claimed recently that as much as half of the state is under the control of Boko Haram but the state governor has come out to trash those claims.

Governor Kashim Shettima has dismissed media report credited to Senator Kaka Bashir Garbai that three local government areas of Abadam, Mobbar and Kala Balge, were fully under the control of Boko Haram terrorists, insisting that no council in the state was being occupied by the insurgents.

Shettima said the military and other security operatives on the platform of ‘Operation Lafiya Dole’, had been doing their best in the last six months as the terrorists’ capacity had been whittled down leaving only pockets of them remaining in the Sambisa Forest.

The Senator had claimed that: “The military are not doing their best to end the war against terrorists, as only Maiduguri, Bayo and Kwaya Kusar council areas were safe and free of insurgents, while 21 of the council areas are partially controlled by terrorists with other three fully still under boko haram caliphate.”

But Governor Shettima said, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, he can confirm that all the 27 local councils in the state had been liberated by the military.

The words of the governor: “As Chief Security Officer of Borno State, I am telling you authoritatively that our military deserves commendation, because all my local government areas have been liberated. Only few insurgents that remain in the Sambisa Forest desperate to launch some pockets of attacks are what we are now witnessing as a result of the bombardment that is going on in their hideouts.

“Maybe, the statement Senator Garbai gave to the media was done out of his emotions when he visited the affected areas or he was misquoted. I have been trying to get contact with the Senator on this unfortunate statement.”