Former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has raised alarm over deadly attacks by terrorist group, Boko Haram, that has led to
a high number of casualties of troops fighting in the northeast region.
The former governor took to his Twitter account (@GovAyoFayose) on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, to express his concern about the wanton loss of lives of soldiers to terrorist attacks.
He faulted the government’s approach towards fighting the group and dismissed the federal government’s rhetoric that the group has been ‘technically defeated’.
He posted, “I’m deeply concerned with the way our soldiers are being killed by the Boko Haram insurgents. It is obvious that something is not right with the FG approach to the fight against the insurgents and it is time that we face the reality that Boko Haram is not technically defeated.”
The former governor’s concern comes in the wake of reports that Boko Haram jihadists killed 53 soldiers and farmers in three days of attacks in Borno State.
According to security sources who spoke to AFP, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group, killed at least 44 soldiers in attacks on three military bases last weekend. They also launched a pre-dawn attack on a base in the town of Gajiram while also killing nine farmers in Mammanti village.
President Muhammadu Buhari famously claimed in 2015 that the terrorist group had been technically defeated. However, the group has killed thousands of Nigerians in countless attacks that have been carried out since then, rendering the president’s declaration a hollow one.
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This year, ISWAP has intensified its attacks on military bases to kill soldiers and loot weapons. The group also kidnapped 113 students in Dapchi, Yobe State in February before returning 107 of them one month later after negotiations with the government.
Of the remaining six, five have been reported to have died while one, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity for failing to renounce her Christian faith.
The terrorist group also recently executed two aid workers it had previously abducted this year because the government failed to keep a line of communication.
Security is a big subject ahead of the 2019 presidential election as Buhari seeks another four years in the Presidential Villa.
