The General Officer Commanding, 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, Thursday declared that Boko Haram has been defeated. The Islamist terrorist group has launched a deadly insurgency campaign that has wreaked monumental havoc largely in Nigeria’s North-East since 2009.

This is the first time an official of the Nigerian Army would make such a declaration. Earlier claims by President Muhammadu Buhari and Information Minister Lai Mohammed that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated” and “nearly defeated” attracted widespread ridicule as the sect remains in control of its Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno State and still caries out deadly operations.

However, addressing a news conference in his office to review the activities of the division in 2015, Gen. Oyebade said that what is happening at the moment is mop-up operation for which he solicited support from communities in the Boko Haram areas of operation.

The army top shot announced that over 100 armed bandits, among them Boko Haram terrorists and cattle rustlers, were killed within the North-West zone in 2015.

He said that 21 key members of the Boko Haram terrorist group were arrested and hundreds of their camps destroyed within the year under review.

The military operations which led to the recovery of the weapons and killing of the criminals in the zone were Operation MESSA, Operation Restore Peace, Operation Sharan Daji, among others.

The recovered weapons include assorted types of SMGs, AK47 Rifles, machine guns, locally made pistols among others.

The GOC, while displaying them before reporters at the 1 Division headquarters in Kaduna, said that the weapons were recovered from the bandits during military operations in states within the North West Zone. They are Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara.

The GOC said that about 37,000 livestock were rescued and handed over to the state committees charged with the responsibility of handing them over to their owners.

Also arrested were 294 cattle rustlers who have been handed over to the Police for prosecution. He added that

While 101 armed bandits were killed in 2015, the GOC announced that the Army lost six soldiers in the various operations.

He reassured residents of the North West zone that the Army would do everything possible as mandated by the constitution to protect lives and property but they are also expected to go about their activities without molestation.

General Oyebade also stated that the Nigerian Army has no apology over its recent action against members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in Zaria.

He insisted that such action would be meted against any group or sect that threatens the peace and stability of the country.

•Rewritten from a Channels TV report. Photo shows Nigerian troops engaged in the war against Boko Haram.