The Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, Maj.-Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, says the Boko Haram/Islamic States West African Province Terrorists are not waging war against the armed forces but against Nigeria.
Abubakar stated this while speaking with Defence Correspondents who are on a media tour to the theatre of operation on Tuesday in Maiduguri.
He said the war against insurgency was an asymmetric warfare that was difficult to fight, urging the media to treat terrorism as war against the nation.
The theatre commander said that troops had continued to make sacrifices to ensure that communities affected by the activities of Boko Haram/ISWAP were stabilised.
He said the military had also ensured that human rights were upheld in all the lines of operation they needed to face to carry out military action.
“We have our troops here in the field spreading different locations during these harsh weather conditions, which can rapidly become also very cold at night.
“So there are heroes, and I tell you, we will do them well to appreciate them occasionally and the only way to do that is through the media.
“These are also Nigerians and it is not the terrorists against the armed forces. It is the terrorists against Nigeria as a nation.
“So once we begin to understand this and have a common front, we will be able to make a very tangible progress,’’ he said.
The Chief of Staff, Operation Hadin Kai, Brig.-Gen. Adamu Ibrahim, explaining why female terrorists were not being killed or prosecuted, said that Nigeria was a signatory to the international law of armed conflict.
Ibrahim said that the law explicitly protects combatants who are no longer actively participating in the fighting as well as women and children.
According to him, Boko Haram members are Nigerian citizens and they are fully eligible to have wives and children.
“As long as their wife and children do not take off arms and engage in direct combat operations in this, then they are not Boko Haram combatants.
“The Nigerian military fully enforces and upholds human rights laws, and as such, we would not violate the laws against the Boko Haram, by engaging their families,’’ he said.
Giving an overview of the activities of OPHK, Maj. Ademola Owolana, said the Joint Tax Force Northeast operation was organised to effectively curtail the activities of the insurgents across the entire territory.
Owolana said the operations were being hampered by many factors, such as drone attacks by terrorists, activities of fifth columnists, and planting of IEDs.
He said the troops had continued to show resilience in defeating the terrorists across the theatre of operation with several successes recorded.
According to him, in the recent attack on Kukawa, his own troops, with the support of air components, defeated the terrorist onslaught; the covering was two motorcycles and neutralising 28 terrorists.
“Furthermore, the terrorists have continued to attack isolated communities in search of logistics, equipment of fighters, close-ledger, and outdoor high-value targets.
“This threat profile suggests desperation of JAS and ISWAP leaders to reassess themselves, demonstrate strength, recruit more fighters, and amass logistics interpolation for a future offensive across the theatre,’’ he said.
