'Shekau is a noisemaker' - Army Chief says

dimeji akinloye

September 21, 2015 10:27 PM

Army Chief says Boko Haram is just looking for relevance.

The Chief of Army staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai has described the new Boko Haram audio as noisemaking.

The elusive leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, made some claims in the recording, which Buratai described as irrelevant. He said it is another desperate ploy by the group to find relevance.

Buratai said, “I think the new Boko Haram leader, in the latest audio is just trying to sound relevant; but as far as I am concerned, he is irrelevant in the scheme of things, he is irrelevant to me.

“Have you seen any of them coming out apart from the suicide bombings? You can see the number of terrorists that are escaping from their camps; he is just making noise to remain relevant.’’

In his reaction to the bomb blast in Maiduguri on Sunday, the army boss said the attack had provided clues of the remaining areas the insurgents were operating from in the state.

“Sunday’s bomb blast will be among those that will be the last, you can be counting them, it has opened up another window where we can now focus where these attacks are coming from.

“It will not be possible for them to penetrate other areas; for now we have knocked them off areas along from Yobe and some parts of Borno.

“Immediately this incident happened yesterday, I gave directive and we will comb that area thoroughly to identify where they are operating from,’’ he said.

dimeji akinloye