SAN FRANCISCO, September 25, (THEWILL) – In what has been described as the Sallah Day routing of Boko Haram insurgents from Banki, a Nigeria- Cameroon border town hitherto occupied by the gunmen on Thursday, the military said on Friday that no fewer than 200 gunmen also surrendered to the superior firepower of the federal forces.
The recaptured town is located in Bama local government area of Borno state and has been under the control of Boko Haram for over a year.
Announcing the recapture of the town and surrender of the gunmen Friday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at a media briefing, Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole (Peace is a Must) in the Northeast, Major General Yusha’u Mahmud Abubakar, said no fewer than 200 insurgents surrendered in Banki .
“I am happy to inform you that over 200 terrorists group surrendered to my troops around Banki town. The field commander just called me and briefed me about the development an hour ago,” he announced to the excited journalists.
While calling on other insurgents to lay down their arms, saying there was no escaping their eventual capture, the Commander expressed optimism that that the three months ultimatum given to the military by President Muhammadu Buhari to defeat the insurgents was visible.
He disclosed that most of the areas that were hitherto under Boko Haram control have been recaptured and were being rehabilitated.
According to Abubakar,”We have started sending our engineers to repair all the destroyed bridges. Already our engineers have started reconstructing the destroyed bridges along Gamboru-Ngala- Maiduguri, Gombi- Garkida- Biu roads among others and very soon the menace of Boko Haram will be over, but this can never be achieved without the full cooperation of the media and the general public.
“The fight against insurgents/ terrorists is a collective responsibility and all hands must be on deck to nip terrorism in the bud.”
In a related development, the Army Chief also disclosed that a terrorist attack was foiled in Maiduguri during the Sallah by the troops of the 7 Division as a terrorist who had planned to plant a bomb in one of the mosques was apprehended on the eve of Eid-el-Kabir.
