Military: Over One Million People Rescued from Boko Haram in Six Months

• Says insurgents have been pushed into Lake Chad

By Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

The Nigerian military on Thursday said the last of the Boko Haram insurgents have been pushed into the Lake Chad water.

Briefing journalists in Maiduguri, the head of the military counter-insurgency operation in the North-east (Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole), Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas, said in the course of pushing the insurgents out of the shores of Nigeria, over a million people have been rescued from the captivity of terrorists in the last six months.

He said the ongoing operation in the northern part of Borno State tagged: “Operation Last Hold”, has been highly successful and has dealt the final blow on the insurgents who have now been pushed into Lake Chad water.

Nicholas said all Nigerian territories have been liberated from the insurgents that have been dispersed from their former enclaves in the North-east.

He said most of the communities in the North-east are now free to be inhabited by their fleeing inhabitants, noting that the only place inhabitable need to be cleared of landmines.

He said the military is currently involved in clearing of homes and farmlands of landmines, which was responsible for some communities remaining deserted.

On the recent suicide attacks recorded in the North-east, Nicholas said: “For every suicide bomber who detonated his/her explosive, 25 others were arrested and out of the press.”

He said many suicide bombers were either arrested or killed in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in the last six months.

He added that most of the roads in the North-east can be travelled without escorts as they are no more threatened by insurgents.

Nicholas also announced a gift of N5 million for anyone with information on bomb making factories in the region.

He said the improvised explosive devices (IED) used are manufactured among the people, who should come out with information on them so that they can be cleared.

He said: “I have a gift of N5 million to anybody that could lead us to those IEDs factories.”

He asked the communities to be more alive to their responsibility of securing their immediate environment, insisting that security is the duty of all.