Lai: I stand by what I said… Boko Haram has been technically defeated

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says he is standing by his comment that Boko Haram has been technically defeated.

Mohammed said this on Monday when he visited the headquarters of The Sun newspaper in Lagos.

He said his position in 2015 that Boko Haram had been technically defeated was based on what he saw on the ground when he led a team of local and international journalists to the epicentre of insurgency.

The minister said Nigeria is currently facing global terrorism that has no boundary or frontier.

“I stand by what I said that Boko Haram is technically defeated. What we are having today is global terrorism where you have the ISIS, ISWAP Al-qaeda all working together,” Mohammed said.

“Terrorism is a global issue. Between 2009 and 2015 we were fighting Boko Haram, but today we are fighting global terrorism where the remnants of the Army in Syria are now joining hands with the ISWAP and others.

“I was on ground in Bama, Konduga and Maiduguri and I know what I saw before I made that claim. We are fighting global terrorism and that is why we are appealing to our foreign partners, especially the UN and our neighbours.

“By the time we get more platforms and the new helicopters that are being expected there will be tremendous improvement.”

The minister also said fake news needs to be checked.

“Fake news and hate speech pose imminent threat to the survival of the nation’s existence. The purveyors of siamese twins of evil must be checkmated and government will continue to engage to end the menace,” he said.

“We expect you to remain in the vanguard of the efforts to tackle fake news and hate speech. We expect you to educate our people on the efforts being made, especially by the government, in this regard.”