The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has dismissed Boko Haram as a badly degraded terrorist group that can only attack defenceless civilians.
The massacre has led to widespread condemnation of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government’s efforts towards eradicating the terrorist group.
While speaking during a meeting with online publishers in Lagos on Tuesday, December 1, Mohammed said last week’s massacre was an act of cowardice by the ‘deranged’ terrorists.
The 68-year-old said the attack does not reflect the progress being made by the military against the insurgency that has devastated the northeast region for 11 years.
He said it was an act of weakness and desperation by the terrorist group after suffering huge setbacks caused by the Nigerian military.
The minister said, “The truth is that Boko Haram is badly degraded and can only carry out cowardly attacks like the one against defenceless farmers over the weekend.
“We urge Nigerians not to lose hope in the capability and commitment of the military to rout the terrorists.”
President Buhari has claimed for years, since he was first elected in 2015, that Boko Haram has been ‘technically defeated’ and posed no significant operational threat to the country.
Many of his past claims were usually ridiculed by the public, especially in light of numerous attacks carried out by Boko Haram which has terrorised the northeast for over a decade.
The Islamic sect has killed over 30,000 people and displaced millions in the restive region since its insurgency escalated in 2009.
Overall, deaths from terrorism in Nigeria are now 83% lower than at their peak in 2014, according to the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report published last week, but Boko Haram killings increased in 2019 over the previous year.
The Islamic sect was ranked as the second deadliest terrorist group globally in 2019 ahead of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and Al-Shabaab, and only behind the Taliban.
Nigeria remains the third most-affected by terrorism across the world, a position it first assumed in 2015 after dropping from second place.
