President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he would hand over to General Muhammadu Buhari, president-elect a country free of the hold of Boko Haram.
He told delegates of heads of customs from West and Central Africa that the military is working hard to ensure that Sambisa forest, the only place left in the hold of the terrorists, was taken from them.
He said that two states, out of the three that was terrorized by the sect have already been freed, adding that going by the intensity of the military operation now going on at the forest, the place will be freed from the terror gang before the hand over date on May 29.
He said,” We can now say two states are completely free from terrorist control, while in the third state, it is only in one Local Government Area that they are still present. That is in the Sambisa Forest.”
Boko Haram had held sway in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states until the military got sophisticated equipment to rout them from local government areas in each of the states.
The elections had to be shifted by six weeks to allow the security outfits face the terrorists. While some grounds were gained before the polls, the insurgents, who also declared a sovereign state in the areas held, hosting their flags in the process, were still holding a number of local governments.
Residents who were not chased out or killed were forced to accept their reign. That has changed now. Those who have abandoned their homes are returning in droves.
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