Contrary to popular belief, there are still parts of Nigeria’s North-East under the control of Boko Haram terrorists, the country’s Defence Minister, Retired Brigadier-General Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali, has said, according to a VOA report. He was also reported as saying that some of the abducted Chibok girls are being used as suicide bombers by Boko Haram.

Trying to illustrate the “enormous gains” the military under President Muhammadu Buhari has made in the fight against Boko Haram, Dan Ali said, as quoted by VOA: “Within one year, the coming of our president has changed the game. Look at what was happening before whereby three states, the whole eastern region, was under the terrorists. Now we may have maybe two local governments,” he said.

The report quoted Ali as saying that the military should be able to clear the terrorists out of their Sambisa Forest fortress within two or three months.

The defence minister reportedly said that President Buhari’s regional and international approach to the fight against Boko Haram has also made a huge difference. He was quoted as saying: “We have been receiving specialised training and intelligence sharing. If you can remember, my president has been going around. In the fact, the five neighbours, including Cameroon, Chad, Benin, have been integrity. We are all working together and we are sharing information, and the international community is also advising us in the right direction.”

On the identity of the would-be girl suicide bomber who told Cameroon authorities this week that she is one of the 276 Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, Ali said the Nigerian military has information that while the girl was captured from Chibok, she was not among the 276 captured in 2014.

“She was one of the Chibok girls but not associated with the earlier ones. We have gotten a report on that that the girl was taken from Chibok but not among those that were earlier captured,” he said.

General Ali said the Nigerian military has been trying to find the girls, but apparently Boko Haram has dispersed them in different locations.

“All along we have been trying to track them [the girls]. Specifically, if I tell you that they are in a specific place, it is difficult. Nobody can keep all 250 girls in a particular place. So these girls might have been distributed. Remember that for some time now, they have been using these girls as bombers,” he said.

•Photo shows Defence Minister, Retired General Dan Ali.