The senator spoke at a lecture organized to commemorate the 70th birthday of Ropo Sekoni, a retired Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, in Lagos, yesterday
Ojodu said that during a visit by the Senate Committee on Defense, Army and Intelligence to the North-East, military authorities informed them that documents recovered from the dreaded Islamist insurgents revealed that they still have about 6,000 fighters ready to fight to the finish.
Some of the members are hiding at the Sambisa forest far away from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
“We were told by the military that the sect members are moving into Ogere in Ogun State, Lagos and Port Harcourt,” Ojudu said. “The military said they are trying to flush them out, but we don’t know how much they have succeeded.”
The senator added, “The Boko Haram issue is the biggest problem before us but we are not tackling it with urgency. We are busy talking about 2015.”
Ojodu stated that his team’s five-day official assignment ended abruptly on the third day because the atmosphere in the area was “not conducive.”
The military, according to Ojudu, showed the visiting senators several video clips, including how members of the dreaded sect butchered the 10 traders from Bodija market, Ibadan, who had travelled to the North to buy beans.
The documents recovered from the sect also revealed that members had vowed that they would fight to the finish, Ojodu, representing Ekiti Central, added.
On Monday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted the extremist Boko Haram sect for crime against humanity for its widespread and systematic murder and persecution of civilians since 2009.
The report titled, “Situation in Nigeria” says there is reasonable basis that since July 2009, the group that aims to spread radical Islam in Northern Nigeria has committed crime against humanity.
The report highlights various attacks on civilian population by the sect. It also described these attacks as systematic and widespread spanning over the entire North-Eastern region, as well as Plateau, Kogi, Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna states.
The birthday lecture in honour of Prof. Sekoni, entitled ‘Make or Break: The Imperative of Cultural Democracy in Nigeria’ was delivered by Femi Folorunso, writer and author. Mr. Folorunso was a student of Prof Sekoni at the then University of Ife.
Terrorism will not spread beyond north-east - COAS
The Nigerian Army yesterday assured Nigerians that efforts are being made to ensure the Boko Haram insurgency would not spread to other parts of the country and cited the recent arrest of some suspects that were linked to the sect in some states.
This assurance was given in Abuja by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, during the monthly interactive session with Defence Correspondents where he disclosed that the Army had begun implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) by setting up an office to handle the policy on behalf of the Army.
Since the military has taken the battle to the camp of the insurgents on mountain tops in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states the sect has been under a siege and this is largely responsible for an attempt being made to relocate to other states, but the Army said it would never allow that to happen.
“The Nigerian Army will remain eternally vigilant with a view to reducing vulnerability through proactive measures. This is aimed at preventing the spread of terrorism to other parts of the country. These proactive measures have yielded results with the recent arrest in Lagos and Ogun states of 42 suspected terrorists. I, therefore, wish to reassure Nigerians that the Nigerian Army will continue to constantly review its strategies towards greater sophistication in tackling the security challenges facing the country.”
According to Army Chief, the Army remains “agile and proactive by continually enhancing her capability to pre-empt, dislocate and disrupt terrorist threat. This will be achieved through effective collaboration with other security agencies in order to defeat terrorists and other criminal elements and ensure safety of lives and property of law abiding citizens.”
To buttress this position, the Army chief who spoke through the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Attahiru Ibrahim gave out some contacts where members of the public could alert the Army when they perceived the security is under a threat. The contacts are 08160030300, 07053333123 and 08191555888 with nigerianarmytips@yahoo.com, nigerianarmytips@gmail.com and nigerianarmytips@hotmail.com.
On the FoI Act, the Army disclosed that it had commenced its implementation and to make it hitch-free, it has set up an FoI office in line with the provisions of the FoI Act 2011 at the Army Headquarters. The Army said it grants public access to information concerning her operations through the fortnightly press briefing, SOJA Magazine, as well as through her website and the social media.
The Army also disclosed that the result of 70 Regular Recruit in-take for both trade and non-tradesmen and women had been released. It advised those concerned to check the final list of successful candidates in the Nigerian Army recruitment website.
Nigerian Army also said that they were still investigating soldiers who were arrested for passing information to Boko Haram agents that led to the killing of some soldiers following the ambush of the Mali-bound troops at Okene, Kogi State.
According to him, “the affected soldiers were caught while posting “negative” comments and conversing with terror suspects on the Internet.”
“The Nigerian Army would also like to establish if there are other dimensions to the act of sabotage. We have embarked on a painstaking investigation as the matter is not something to be glossed over“ and assured that culprits will be court-martialed.
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