By Dansu Peter
This special recognition trails the troops’ recent onslaught around the Timbuktu-Triangle in Borno State which was once reported to be under the control of the radical jihadists.
Led by Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukut Buratai, the Nigerian troops have gained massive grounds in its final clearance operation, with the latest consuming 134 insurgents.
And in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Dr Kenneth Anayo, on Tuesday, the group of activists hailed the “troops for their uncommon efforts, patriotism and gallantry in the past few weeks especially their most recent exploit in neutralizing over 134 terrorists”.
CNAGN expressed confidence in the COAS and his troops as they match closer towards victory over the terrorists who already appears to be depleted.
The activists, however, urged the Federal Government to carry out a similar operation on the civilian and non-combatant wings of Boko Haram, who arm them with information.
Read the full statement below:
The Coalition of Nigerian Activists for Greater Nigeria has urged the Federal Government and Nigerians to specially commend the troops currently carrying out the final phases of the operation to wipe Boko Haram terrorists out from the northeast of Nigeria and all over the country. The Coalition’s reachtion followed reports that the Nigerian military neutralized as many as 134 Boko Haram terrorists in the Timbuktu-Triangle while arresting 16 informants that had helped the terror group’s operation in the past.
The punishment that the Nigerian Army has inflicted on Boko Haram terrorists is a befitting gift to Nigerians at a time that people are eager for good news in the midst of the COVID-19 scourge. The terrorists that once made themselves into a scourge and a torn in the country’s flesh are today getting the kind of treatment they deserve being the disease that they are. For this the Army, its leadership and troops that are taking part in the operation deserve laurels to spur them on.
We at the Coalition of Nigerian Activists for Greater Nigeria laud the troops for their uncommon efforts, patriotism and gallantry in the past few weeks especially their most recent exploit in neutralizing over 134 terrorists as part of the final onslaught in the war against terrorism. The troops have left everyone talking about their gallantry and patriotism in the their continuous display against the terrorists.
This group, which has always had the highest level of confidence in the capacity of our military to defeat the terrorists without any doubt, is proud that a time has come for all Nigerians to stand behind the troops to defeat the terrorists and their agents of darkness.
The Coalition of Nigerian Activists for Greater Nigeria, however, wants to appeal to the Federal Government to reciprocate the good work the military is doing in flushing out the leftovers of Boko Haram elements by unleashing a similar operation on the civilian and non-combatant wings of Boko Haram. By this we mean that the government should act on intelligence at its disposal about the sympathizers, sponsors, enablers and collaborators of Boko Haram.
The fact that the military has arrested as many as 16 informants for the terrorists showed that they have seriously infected the national space. Consequently, we demand that the government take action in freezing bank accounts linked with terrorism financing, close down businesses connected to Boko Haram commanders and their associates, including those that have been used as fronts for laundering funds to the terrorists.
It is also time to take a firm stand against propaganda deployed in support of Boko Haram and those behind such poison. We equate this with the Nigerian Military being on the threshold of cutting off the head of the beast but the government and the rest of the country must take active steps to incinerate its carcass so that is has no prospect of spawning miniatures or clones in its dying moment. We urge that Boko Haram is atomically defeated on the battlefield in the northeast, defeated in the media and cyberspace, defeated in the socio-political and economic space in order for all Nigerians to enjoy peace.
Even as they commend the military for destroying Boko Haram, Nigerians must now take the next crucial step of collectively freeing their minds grip that terrorism once held over them. It is in the hearts and minds of Nigerians that the terrorists will be finally defeated. The days of Boko Haram are over.
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