Boko Haram is no threat - FG

THE Federal Government has said the army is making progress in the war against Boko Haram militants, despite the killing of 44 people in a mosque on Monday.
Speaking through the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, the government dismissed the attack, describing it as “desperate and isolated.”
According to the minister, in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programme, Focus on Africa, “security agencies have been able to push the Boko Haram sect from their major strongholds.”
It will be recalled that members of the sect attacked a mosque in Konduga town, Borno State, during dawn prayers on Sunday, leaving scores of people dead, while 12 civilians were also reportedly killed at Ngom village, near Maiduguri.
Following a lull immediately after the emergency was declared, there had been a recent spate of attacks, blamed on Boko Haram, which had left some 160 people dead.
But Moro said these were the “desperate antics” of a group trying to show it was still relevant.
You’re not winning war against terror, FG replies Boko Haram
The Federal Government, on Tuesday, said contrary to the claim by the Boko Haram sect, it (the government) was actually the one winning the war against terror in the country and not the other way round.
This is just as the government raised the alarm that the lingering Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the North had damaged the reputation of the country.
Leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, had reportedly claimed Boko Haram was winning the war against Nigerian military in a recent video, where it equally claimed responsibility for the recent attacks in different communities in Borno and Yobe states, including Malumfatori, Bama, Biu, Konduga, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza and Damaturu.
Shekau, who reportedly spoke in Hausa amidst intermittent triumphant laughter in the video, said “the military is lying to the world about the battle we had with them; they lied that they have killed our members, but we are the ones that have killed the soldiers. So we are winning on either side.”
However, speaking in Abuja, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, noted that the sect was now isolated and being chased from the three states where state of emergency was in operation.
He accused the insurgents of hiding in the bush and killing people going to the farm, noting that the approach would ultimately make the terrorists to become more unpopular.
The minister, who spoke when he appeared before National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Wadata House, Abuja, however, noted that the government could not win the war against terror only by instrument of weapons, stating that “we also have to win the hearts of the people.”
Maku disclosed that the government had succeeded in winning the political and moral argument against Boko Haram through what he attributed to as consistent information strategies.
He maintained that terrorism was not about North or Islam, while admitting that activities of the sect had damaged the reputation of the country.
2 Boko Haram kingpins killed in Adamawa
The clampdown on the Boko Haram group has yielded results in Adamawa State, as the Joint Task Force (JTF) announced the killing of two major suspects, Zakariyya Yau and Muhammadu Bama, on whom the Federal Government placed N10 million bounty.
They were reportedly killed in a gun encounter with the men of the JTF.
Both men, the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Beydi Martins, said were on their way to Wukari in Taraba State for an operation when the JTF monitored them from their base in Borno State, till they were nabbed in Mubi, Adamawa State.
Martins, while speaking with newsmen in Mubi, on Tuesday, said the duo were killed during the encounter, while an undisclosed number of the JTF men sustained injuries.
He also disclosed the arrest of suspected Boko Haram members, five of who were paraded by the battalion, while some, he said, were still being interrogated.
The battalion commander disclosed that those paraded on Tuesday were arrested last week when they attacked a bureau de change in Mubi International Market, where they had carted away millions in both Nigerian and foreign currencies.
Items recovered by the JTF included 485 live ammunition, 28 magazines, Dane guns, bows and arrows, axes, cutlasses and rocket propeller charger, among others.
Konduga killings: Women, children killed, 50 houses burnt, residents tell Borno gov
Locals in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, where Boko Haram insurgents invaded on Sunday, leaving about 50 persons dead, told Governor Ibrahim Shettima on Tuesday that the attackers did not spare women and children, as even infants were killed during the invasion.
Shettima, who was in Konduga on Tuesday, assured the people of government’s support, adding that more troops would be deployed in the area to support those on the ground.
The governor, thereafter, promised to set up committee under the chairmanship of a member of the House of Assembly representing Konduga constituency, Honourable Ali Bukar Dalori, to ensure lives and properties of the people were safe.
Some police officers, who did not want their name in print, told the Nigerian Tribune that during the invasion, they fought the insurgents and even killed one of the commanders, whose name was given as Bukar in front of the house of the district head, Zannah Masu Yale, while they also pursued the sect members.
“We saw a grave which was hurriedly dug with someone buried inside. When we dug it, we discovered that sect buried alive one of its members, whom they felt could not make it and we brought him back to town still alive, though he could not speak until he later died,” one of the mobile police officer told the Nigerian Tribune.
Another resident of the town, Malam Usman Goni, told the Nigerian Tribune that the Boko Haram fighters came through the western side of the town and followed through Tsohuwar Kasuwa (Old Market) to the district head house.
According to him, they were led by some residents and wore camouflage, while they left over 50 houses burnt down during the attack.
Also, three women, Falmata Modu, Aisha Musa and Kaltum Bukar, told the Nigerian Tribune that since the incident on Sunday, they had not seen their mother, aged 90.
UK condemns killing of worshipers at mosque
The United Kingdom (UK) government, on Tuesday, condemned the killing of worshippers at a mosque in Konduga town on Sunday.
Reacting to the killing, UK’s Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, condemned the killing and described it as senseless.
Mr Simmonds maintained that attacking innocent people in a place of worship was a contemptible and cowardly act.
He pledged the support of the UK government to Nigeria as the country sought to reduce violence in the North-East of the country.
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