Military pressure has forced insurgents to flee North East – CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, has said that military pressure on the Boko Haram insurgents had forced some of them to flee the North East to other parts of the country.

Badeh who made the disclosure on Thursday when he visited the scenes of the Tuesday afternoon twin blasts in Jos, said the insurgents’ strongholds in the North East were being taken over by the military.

He said “the insurgents are now more vicious in their attacks on soft targets just to intimidate Nigerians.’’

The chief of defence staff declared that the military was determined to end the menace, saying that Nigerian soldiers were highly capable of fighting the insurgents.

He added that “we have arrested a large number of the insurgents and we shall continue to do more.

“We need just a little time more; some countries have been fighting terrorist activities for over 40 years, but in Nigeria, it is a new phenomenon and we are battling to address it.”

Badeh urged Nigerians to support the military with vital information about the insurgents, and called on security agents to enlighten Nigerians more on the dangers of rushing to bomb explosion scenes.

He said “we have told people to desist from rushing to bomb blast scenes, as there is always the possibility of a second explosion.

“People are also advised to remain calm and lie down at such scenes to avoid being caught up by another blast that may follow.”

The defence chief then directed soldiers to stop people from trading in the vicinities of the Terminus Market, stressing that security agencies must enforce the ban on street trading.

Badeh later told Gov. Jonah Jang that he was in Jos to assess the situation to determine the next line of action, following the twin bomb blasts at the Jos Terminus Market on Tuesday.

He said the incident was worrisome for Plateau that had enjoyed some measure of peace for sometime and sympathised with Plateau residents over the blasts that killed several people.

Jang, on his part, lauded the security agencies’ prompt response to the blasts and particularly commended them for working as a team to minimise the damage.

He said “yesterday (Wednesday), the Inspector General of Police was here; today, you are also here and that shows that you all are concerned about what happened to us.”

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