President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday reaffirmed his conviction that “the end of the Boko Haram insurgency is in sight, given the added vigour with which the war against the terrorist sect is now being prosecuted by Nigeria and her allies”. Many have fled on foot to makeshift camps in the Bol and Baga Sola districts where Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is running mobile clinics. “But we only have enough food to eat once per day”.
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Boko Haram insurgents have also intensified suicide bombings and other armed assaults at different locations in the beleaguered northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. One of those hunters, Alhaji Kankana Sarkin-Baka, told AFP that of the 160 bodies, only eight had fatal gunshot wounds, indicating most people drowned to death rather than died at the hands of Boko Haram terrorists.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon.
“Some pregnant women have walked several kilometres in searing heat to seek medical attention”.
With the rising number of attacks Chad is stepping up military patrols in the area.
“We should all support Mr President’s determination to end Boko Haram menace in the country within three months”.
The Nigerian military had no presence in the village, leaving Boko Haram, a subgroup of the Islamic State, to fight only a vigilante group made up of recruited hunters.
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The President, however said, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, that Nigeria and Chad must be prepared to make more sacrifices to end the scourge of Boko Haram since they were at the “very heart of the insurgency”.
