Buratai gave the charge at Camp Zairo, the former Command and Control Centre of the terrorists group in the Sambisa forest during an operational visit to troops.

In 2017, the army chief gave troops a 40-day ultimatum to capture Shekau and the army recently offered a N3 million reward for information on him.

Troops finally destroyed the camp in January in an operation tagged “Deep Punch II’’ and are now dominating the general area of the forest.

The military sacked Shekau from the camp in December, 2016 but the terrorists later re-group to launch pockets of attacks.

Other locations visited by Buratai are Bita and Tukumbere, all settlements within the forest but almost deserted due to the insurgency.

“Let me say congratulations. But, we must move across to wherever this criminal – Shekau is and catch him red handed. I want you to get him.

“Mr President, Command-In-Chief of the Armed Forces says congratulations to all of you for recovering the Sambisa Forest.

“As far as we are concern, we have come to the end of this operation (clearing the forest of remnants of terrorists).

“What is remaining now is the Lake Chad waters only and we hope to do that (clear terrorists from it) also very soon.

“Meanwhile, you all know these criminals are still on the run; these guys are on the run, you must make sure that you get them wherever they are around this area.

“You must not allow them to escape. Every day, you must go on patrol, lay ambush for them and you go on raids.

“This is the time we have to consolidate and ensure that this place – Sambisa forest, is safe and never for these criminals to come back to it,’’ Buratai charged the troops.

The chief of army staff said that he was in Sambisa and Camp Zairo to confirm the capture, destruction and domination by the gallant troops.

“I am glad that the troops have done the country proud and they have done Mr President proud by not only capturing the Camp Zairo within the forest but also consolidating on this success.

“It is a thing of pride and I want to say that we are proud of the Nigerian troops. We are proud of members of the armed forces, the Air Force, Navy, Police, DSS and indeed Civilian JTF, who have provided the needed service,’’ he said.

Buratai described the Sambisa forest as strategic and assured that the military would it secure against terrorists.

“We are going to transform this place, apart from making it a training area. We are going to have a modern defence establishment in terms of the provision of basic requirements for your comfort and indeed for your operations. We already making sure that the first set of facilities are brought here,’’ the army chief said.

To the troops, who captured the camp, Buratai promised them special package to boost their morale.

“We are going to have some special packages for all of you that penetrated this forest. We will make sure that your morale is high by making the necessary provision for you to be comfortable,’’ he added.

On rotation of troops, he said that plans were on to rotate those who had stayed long in the theatre of operation.

“This is in our plan. I know that some of you were inducted here right from the depot but we are doing something for you to be properly deployed and properly accommodated as well.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that 3,000 troops would be inducted into the Operation Lafiya Dole this week, to replace those who had stayed long.

In an interview with newsmen after the visit, Maj.-Gen. Rogers Nicholas, the Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, said with the capture of camp Zairo ”the soul and mind of Boko Haram have been broken in Sambisa forest”.

“They don’t have a place to hide. We are still going round to make sure that some of them that are hiding in holes, we intend to fish them out,’’ Nicholas said.

He said that on assumption of duty in 2017, the chief of army staff tasked him to capture Camp Zairo and clear Boko Haram from the Sambisa forest.

“Troops have finally cleared the forest of remnants and we are presently occupying camp Zairo as well as all the little settlements and camps within the forest.’’

Staff Sgt. Dauda Mohammed, one of the troops, who participated in the operations that finally destroyed camp Zairo and clear the forest of remnants of terrorists, attributed their success to the Almighty God.“The success is from God. God almighty is the one that gave us the success which all of us are happy to be here. The Sambisa is cleared,’’ Mohammed said.

NAN also reports that during the visit, the army chief directed principal officers, who accompanied him, to visit other locations and frontline.

Accordingly, the Chief of Training and Operations, Maj.-Gen. David Ahmadu visited Bama, Borno South East to find out the needs of the troops and encourage them.

The Director, Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Tarfa, visited Dikwa, Borno North East while Maj.-Gen. A.T. Hamman, the Provost Marshal, visited Gubio, Borno North West.

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But despite a concerted global campaign for their release, and talks between the government and the militants, the girls shown in the recording vowed not to return to their parents.

The 20-minute-long video is the first since May last year when another woman who also claimed to be among the 219 seized from the town in Borno state said she wanted to stay.

Both videos will compound the suffering of the girls’ families and friends but also indicate the extent to which they may have become influenced by their captors.

All of those who were shown on camera were wearing black or blue hijabs and at least three were carrying babies.

One of the students, her face covered by a veil, said: “We are the Chibok girls that you cry for us to return to you. By the grace of Allah, we will not return to you.

“Poor souls, we pity our other Chibok girls who chose to return to Nigeria. Allah blessed you and brought you to the caliphate for you to worship your creator.

It was not clear when or where the latest message, in Hausa and the local Chibok language, was recorded or whether those who appeared on camera were under duress.

The woman speaking said the Boko Haram factional leader Abubakar Shekau had “married us off. We live in comfort. He provides us with everything. We lack nothing,” she added.

Shekau was also seen, firing a heavy machine gun and making a 13-minute-long sermon in which he said the remaining girls had “understood the folly” of secular education

Boko Haram’s name broadly translates into English from the Hausa that is widely spoken in northern Nigeria as “Western education is sinful”.

The group has repeatedly attacked and destroyed schools teaching a secular curriculum in its campaign to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

The jihadists seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in the mostly Christian town on April 14, 2014, triggering global condemnation.

Fifty-nine of them managed to escape in the hours that followed. A campaign for the release of their classmates has had the support of Hollywood stars to global leaders.

A total of 107 girls have now been either found, rescued or released as part of government negotiations with the Islamic State group affiliate.

They have now returned to the northeast and are back in education at the American University of Nigeria, in the Adamawa state capital, Yola.

On January 4, the Nigerian army said it had rescued another of the girls’ classmates in the Pulka region of Borno, near the border with Cameroon.

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war in the conflict, which has killed at least 20,000 people in northeast Nigeria and displaced more than 2.6 million.

Thousands of women and young girls have been seized and held hostage, including as sex slaves, while men and young boys have been forcibly recruited to fight alongside the militants.

The video also shows a group of policewomen, who were also abducted in Borno state last year.

AFP

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BOKO HARAM

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She frowned at the inability of the Federal Government to secure the freedom of the students abducted by the Boko Haram group.

Falana expressed her worry during the annual Christmas Party with inmates of the Erelu Adebayo Motherless Children Home, Iyin-Ekiti .

At the event, Falana presented items including toiletries, packs of noodles, children toys and others to the children.

“Rather than intensifying effort at winning the children back,” Mrs Falana lamented that “government had been playing politics and was not doing enough to free the captives.

“It is unfortunate. We have been making the advocacy at every opportunity that government should bring back our girls alive. We need them alive, they are precious to us.

“We are crying for their return. We don’t want Nigerian leaders to play politics with the lives of this children. The future is theirs. We need and want them to be brought back.”

Falana urged wealthy individuals to always remember the less privileged in the society, most especially the motherless, by assisting them with whatever they can afford.

“By the circumstance of their birth, they should not feel less privileged. It is not by their own making. Infact they are as important as their colleagues out there. We want to make them feel loved. We do this every year to make them happy.

“Last year we gave them a big grinder, the penultimate year,we gave them a generator. We also donated a computer set to them sometime ago. But this year we concentrated on the personal needs and food items of the children,” she added.

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In a press statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, the curfew hours on the town is now 7pm to 6am.

The curfew formerly on the town was from 9pm to 6am daily and the additional two hours was handed down due to the deteriorating security situation in the state, especially as a result of an increase in the number of attacks on some towns.

Usman in the statement said no one was exempted from the curfew.

“All must comply with the directive and anyone found flouting this directive will be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.

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The situation had attracted media attention and elicited a lot of concern from well meaning Nigerians.

Although the situation was quickly brought under control, the DHQ said that the issues being raised by the women were clarified to them by the authorities of the 7 Division.

It was pointed out that contrary to their belief, there has never been any attempt to relocate them as alleged.

Furthermore, it was made clear that while the Army remains sensitive to the needs of the family members, it was not normal or proper for any Officer or Soldier to decide where he or she be deployed, neither will such demand be encouraged from spouses in a period of serious operation when the entire nation was depending on the Army to address the security challenges.

They were however assured that no Officer, Soldier or unit would be tasked without the necessary means to accomplish their task. It was also stated that Troops were not being sent on operation without the necessary arms, ammunition and support as alleged.

The recent operations at Bulanbulin and Damboa where terrorists were cleared without a single casualty on the troops was cited.

The military authorities therefore reassure citizens that the situation has been brought under control, while appropriate action would be taken against any person found to be involved in the heinous and cowardly acts or attempts to demoralise or discourage the troops by preventing them from obeying lawful orders and command in defence of the country.

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Previously, an erstwhile Joint Task Force (JTF) spokesman in Borno State, Lt Col Sagir Musa, had in a statement on August 19, stated, “Intelligence report available to the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Restore Order revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted terrorist leader, may have died.”

Musa had added that Shekau died of gunshot wounds received in an encounter with JTF operatives in one of their camps in Sambisa forest on June 30, 2013. “Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide — a border community in Cameroon — for treatment from which he never recovered,” the JTF statement said.

However, a video was posted by the sect online , showing Shekau, who was clad in a military fatigue, rained invectives on his enemies: “Here I am, alive, hale and hearty. Sagir Musa should bury himself in shame, President Jonathan (of Nigeria) should bury himself in shame, President Obama (of United States of America) should bury himself in shame, and President Francois Hollande (of France) should bury himself in shame, Queen Elizabeth (of England) should bury herself in shame.

“They said I am dead, but here I am. The world should know that I am alive and will only die at the appointed time. Everybody should be judged according to the dictates of his conscience.

“What I am doing is written in the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith and I will not stop. I challenge all the clerics of the world to question my deeds. Those underrating my capacity should have a re-think. I will never allow democracy to thrive.

“The concept of government of the people by the people for the people will never be possible and will never exist. Democracy shall be replaced only by the government of Allah, from Allah and for Allah.”

He stated the Nigerian military will never subdue his group. “Nigerian soldiers are late. After killing many of them in Monguno and Benisheik, we have snatched their armoured carriers and Hilux vans and then hoisted Islamic flags on them. We now move freely with them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Army Public Relations Unit said it would study the video clips that claimed someone who had died several weeks ago is alive.

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