that Boko Haram will be crushed within six weeks.
The terrorists, on their part, opened a new war front in Niger
Republic with its leader dismissing the threat from the regional
force.
Security chiefs had warned that security could not be guaranteed for
the elections originally scheduled for this weekend and needed six
weeks to flush out Boko Haram terrorists from the 14 local government
areas in the North-East states before elections could hold. This
forced postponement of the elections throughout the country till March
28.
Speaking, yesterday, Col. Dasuki assured that the new election dates
of March 28 and April 11 will not be shifted as "all known Boko Haram
camps will be taken out" within six weeks
"They won't be there. They will be dismantled," he told AFP in an
interview when asked what gains could be made against the Islamists
before the new polling date of March 28.
Dasuki said that Nigeria had been unable to defeat Boko Haram as it
had been "fighting it alone for years, with all the limitations in
terms of equipment and support.
"Now we are having support. We are having additional troops. We are
having additional equipment coming in. We are better equipped and
better placed now to take on that thing than we were before."
But Dasuki said that even if the goal was not achieved, "the situation
then would surely be conducive enough for elections," with no need for
a further postponement of voting.
New polls dates'll not be shifted again
"Those dates will not be shifted again," Dasuki said when asked if the
polls, initially scheduled for February 14, could be pushed back
further.
Dasuki had urged election officials to postpone the vote on the
grounds that the military could not provide nationwide election
security because all available resources were being deployed to the
North-East to fight Boko Haram.
In the interview, Dasuki suggested that the reason for the delay was
the need to assure safe voting in the north-east states of Adamawa,
Borno and Yobe where Boko Haram is most active and controls
significant territory.
Dasuki insisted there was no political motive underlying his call for
a delay, saying: "It's not everybody who does things for selfish
reasons. Some of us have a conscience."
He said the postponement could easily help the opposition All
Progressives Congress, APC, because improved security could boost
turnout in the northeast, an APC stronghold.
Boko Haram dismisses threat from regional forces in new video
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has released three new videos onYouTube,
yesterday, one of them a 28-minute speech from its leader, Abubakar
Shekau, in an undisclosed location flanked by eight masked fighters.
In it, he dismissed the threat from regional forces, stating: "Your
alliance will not achieve anything. Amass all your weapons and face
us. We welcome you."
In this screen grab image taken on February 9, 2015 from a video made
available by Islamist group Boko Haram, leader Abubakar Shekau (C)
makes a statement at an undisclosed location. Boko Haram leader
Abubakar Shekau vowed in a new video released on January 9, 2015 that
the group would defeat a regional force fighting the militants in
Nigeria's far northeast, Niger and Cameroon."AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM" -
On Saturday, Nigeria and its neighbours -- Chad, Niger, Cameroon and
Benin -- agreed to muster 8,700 troops, police and civilians for a
wider, African Union-backed force against Boko Haram.
The size of the new force had previously been set at about 7,500 but
Shekau, whom the United States estimates as having between 4,000 and
6,000 fighters at his disposal, dismissed the threat.
"You send 7,000 troops? Why don't you send seven million? This is
small. Only 7,000? By Allah, it is small. We can seize them
one-by-one. We can seize them one-by-one," he said in Arabic.
Shekau also directly threatened Chad's President Idriss Deby, whose
forces have attacked Boko Haram in the northeast Nigerian towns of
Gamboru and Malam Fatori in recent days.
Shekau's challenge came after the United States said on Friday that
Boko Haram could face a stronger test against more capable regional
forces.
Washington estimates that Boko Haram has a core of between 4,000 and
6,000 fighters and is well-equipped after raiding Nigerian Army
positions.
Shekau's speech appeared to put the Boko Haram insurgency in the wider
context of global jihad, possibly in response to the regional nature
of the conflict.
Read more at Vanguad here:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/well-crush-boko-haram-6-weeks-dasuki/
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