War With Boko Haram Is Won – Kashim Shettima

Only last week two suicide bombers killed 30 people in northeastern Nigeria, but the governor of Borno state, the country’s jihadist heartland, told AFP in an interview that Boko Haram has been defeated.

Kashim Shettima said the war against the Islamist militants was “over” and predicted that hundreds of thousands of displaced people would have returned to their homes by May.

Though the UN last month said Boko Haram was blocking aid supplies from reaching refugees, leaving thousands at risk of starvation, Shettima said the jihadists no longer posed a threat.

The Islamic State group-linked militants came close to overrunning much of northeastern Nigeria, he said, during the now seven-year-old insurrection.

“Two years ago, Maiduguri was on the edge of falling to the Boko Haram,” he said referring to the state capital.

“Boko Haram was controlling 20 out of 27 local government areas in Borno. You couldn’t dare to go 15 kilometres (nine miles) out of Maiduguri (and) you are in Boko Haram territory.

“But now Boko Haram have been defeated, they are being chased out of all our communities, they do not have the capacity to hold on to any territory in Nigeria any longer.”

The governor acknowledged however that Boko Haram still posed a threat to life.

“Yes, they are launching suicide bombings and so on once in a while. But to me, even suicide bombing is a sign of weakness, not of strength,” he said.

“I believe the war is over.”

The United Nations has warned of an impending humanitarian disaster and charity Save the Children says 4.7 million people in the northeast need food assistance.

It warns that 400,000 children are in danger of starving.

But Shettima said such figures were gross exaggerations.

“Within the city of Maiduguri definitely, resources are overstretched, especially with regards to water and sanitation, with regards to hospital facilities, with regards to even food security issues,” he said.

“We have huge humanitarian challenges but it’s also very difficult for you to convince me… that 100,000 people are dying,” he said.

And he remained confident that the camps of displaced people — some 2.6 million have fled their homes — will soon be a thing of the past.