By Olayemi Esan, Maiduguri
The Nigerian Army has vowed to stop the massive recruitment drive of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) fighters in the North east.
The terrorist group is seriously being depleted witnessed by the spate it members have been surrendering to the Nigerian Armed Forces, as well as the conflict within its ranks.
Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyeama Nwachukwu made this known during a 3-day media tour to troops in the frontlines, units and formations in the Theatre of Operation Hadin Kai, Sector I and II in the region.
Nwachukwu said the objective of the visit was to review the wrong narratives about the surrendered Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in recent times.
He noted that the heat against the terrorists have resulted in depleting its membership therefore, it is very important to stop their desperate recruitment bid and that the media will play important role in that effort.
The team is expected to visit a number of operation areas in north east.
Nwachukwu said that the efforts of military should be brought to media domain for Nigerians to appreciate the efforts of the Nigerian troops, particularly in the fight against insurgency and terrorism in the North East.
In addition, he said that the purpose of the media tour is also targeted at discussing the issues of rehabilitation of surrendered terrorists and plights of the victims of the conflict towards engaging the media and propaganda in making Nigerians appreciate the joint efforts of the security agencies.
"These fundamentally reasons gave birth to the media tour to the North East", he noted.
"The Boko Haram insurgents have been surrendering. People have questioned the authenticity of the surrendering of these insurgents. People are also questioning why the insurgents are surrendering at this point in time,” said Nwachukwu.
"The fight against insurgency has recorded tremendous success considering what it was in the past.
“At some point, few years back as far back as 2014, Boko Haram was almost advancing towards Lokoja, they were marching towards Abuja. Today, they have been boxed to the Timbuks or the hills," he said.
Responding, the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa appreciated the good initiative by Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu for organizing the tour to spread the good tidings of the Nigerian Army success in various theatres of operations in the country.
The Theatre Commander, while welcoming the Defence Correspondents commended the media for the support for military operations across the country which he described as encouraging.
He further noted that the military is doing all within the international laws in the handling of the Boko Haram on the prosecution of surrendered terrorists, especially against the backdrop of the mass surrender of the terrorists.
“We are just doing what we are supposed to do, the laws will naturally take its course, nobody will take them in and tomorrow say ‘go, your sins are forgiven;’ no it doesn’t work that way, and that is why we were able to talk to the Governor and advise him to call for a stakeholders meeting which was held to chart a way forward” Musa said.
The 3-day tour with Defence Correspondents from Abuja and Maiduguri is expected to end by Wednesday.
