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Nigerian military blames civilians for its failure to end Boko Haram insurgency
The Nigerian military has blamed its inability to flush out Boko Haram terrorists from the North-East on the attitude of some locals who often refuse to provide useful information to security agencies.
About 43 rice farmers were killed in some communities in Borno State on Saturday.
But a United Nations (UN) report put the number of those who died in the attack to at least 110.
However, speaking when he featured on Channels Televised Sunrise Daily on Monday, the Nigerian Military spokesman, John Enenche, said that the military was still investigating the number of casualties recorded in the attack.
On how the refusal of some locals to furnish the military with information about the terrorist group has been hindering the military’s victory over the terrorists group, Enenche said.
READ ALSO: UN says 110 killed by Boko Haram in Borno villages
“That has been our worry. It’s a concern to us. You need a guide, you need information. Will they tell us? That’s a question that we have to ask. Yes, sometimes. And most times, no. And that was one of the issues. We have been ensuring to overcome with civil-military cooperation activities, reaching out to them, even sending people by proxy to talk to them.
“Those are the things that have been one of the banes of the final success in the whole of this operation.
“Our patrols will pass through a route, in a village. By the time you are going, some people are looking at you. When you are coming back, the next thing is that you meet an IED planted on the road. And people saw them, they won’t tell you. So that’s the area I think we are all working together as stakeholders.
“And it is not possible to force information out of people. It’s not possible, just like they say you force a horse to the river, but not to drink water. So all we are trying to do is to build up their confidence in the system and encourage them that look, this is not good for you. Now they do not expect that this will happen, even those ones that they deceived, that they are preaching to them.”
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