New regional force to fight Boko Haram ‘any time now’: Nigerian army

Nigerian military spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade said on last Tuesday that the new regional force would be operational “any moment from now”, without giving a specific date.

“Almost 2,000 extra soldiers will be deployed in the Extreme North region”, on the border with northeastern Nigeria, according to the report on Cameroon Radio-Television, which gave no timetable for the operation.

A few 20,000 people have died during Boko Haram’s 6-year uprising against the Nigerian government.

Suspected Boko Haram militants in five 4×4 vehicles stormed the village of Dille – and two adjacent communities in Borno State’s Askira-Uba local government area – where they fired on local residents, as said by federal legislator Jubrin Satumari.

Fighters with Boko Haram – which in March purportedly pledged allegiance with the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS – remain scattered across the Sambisa forest and surrounding villages, and Nigeria now is now facing a full-blown insurgency.

An African Union-mandated, 8,700-strong regional task force, headquartered in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, was due to start operations at the end of this month but has been delayed by questions over funding.

The attacks occurred as Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is in Cameroon to meet with President Paul Biya regarding a strategy to eliminate the terror syndicate.

It said troops, however, repelled a fresh attempt by Boko Haram to take over Buratai, the country home of Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj.-Gen.

And is Nigeria’s president failing in his election pledge to eradicate the group?

Monday’s was the latest in a spate of attacks that have killed hundreds in recent weeks and spilled across Nigeria’s borders.

Also complicating the fight has been the long-tense relations between Cameroon and Nigeria, and concerns over the role of Chad’s military might on Nigerian soil.

Boko Haram has escalated its six-year-old campaign to impose Islamic law on Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and largest oil-producing nation.

Yayi had visited Abuja, along with the leaders of Chad and Niger, after Buhari’s inauguration for a security summit on the creation of a multinational force against the sect.