President Buhari Finally Gives Boko Haram Leader, Abubakar Shekau a 'Second Chance'

Elusive Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has been advised by President Buhari to surrender now to avoid annihilation. 

 

Abubakar Shekau (middle)

 

The President has warned Abukabar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, to surrender now or face imminent disaster according to the Daily Sun.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari also advised Nigerians to be security-conscious following the sack of terrorists from their Sambisa Forest stronghold.

 

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the president also said the military has not been able to capture Shekau or win the anti-insurgency war completely as desired, saying, "this is asymmetric war. If it were to be conventional war, once the enemies are overpowered, they will surrender and you win the battle.

“But in asymmetric war, there will still be pocket of strikes here and there until you are able to exterminate the remnants of those  behind them.” He added.

 

In view of this, he said the terrorists who fled from Sambisa might have run to other parts of the country, and Nigerians have to be extremely vigilant and be more security-conscious to avoid being victims of sudden attacks.

 

Over 20,000 Nigerians have been killed since the insurgency started in 2009 while the President would not want anybody to become victims of those blood-thirsty terrorists again, Adesina said.

 

On the level the Federal Government has reached in the war against terrorism, the presidential aide said, “December 2015 was the target to technically defeat Boko Haram, and by that time, we had defeated the insurgents to a large extent.

 

“By that time, their ability to launch concentrated attacks had been defeated. Before that time, Boko Haram would take their battle to military formation, police stations, government institutions and establishments, and all that" he explained.

 

On what the government was doing to allay people’s fear and guarantee security of lives and property, Adesina noted that there were a lot of intelligence gathering and other security issues the government would not want to divulge to the public for security reasons.

 

He, however, urged Nigerians to be security-conscious and alert the government on any suspicious movements or strange activities that could threaten security.