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The Group no Longer Had The Capacity to Hold Any Ground - Said Buratai

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The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Monday rekindled the hope of Nigerians on the rescue of the Chibok school girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in April 2014.

Buratai gave the assurance while fielding questions from newsmen on the sideline of the Chief of Army Staff third quarter conference held at Army Headquarters, Abuja.

He said the safe return of the girls remained a priority of the military in the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.

He said there were strong indications that the girls were still held within the fringes of the Sambisa forest.

The COAS explained that though the exact location of the girls’ in the forest was yet to be ascertained, the military was mindful of their safety in the bid to secure their release.

He said, “The issue of the Chibok girls is very crucial, we are making all efforts to clear the terrorists and after clearing them we rescue the Chibok girls in one piece

“I believe that the girls must be somewhere within the general area of the forest, but we are not yet sure exactly where they are.

“As soon as this is confirmed, we will attempt to see what we can do to bring them back in one piece, it is very crucial because their safety is very important.

“They could be somewhere else, so we are taking this issue in piecemeal so that we are sure of where we are and how we are going about it and we believe that we can find a solution to it very soon.

“It (rescue) is not an issue of the Army alone, it is a collective issue, the Air Force is there, also working very hard; the Department of State Service is also working very hard on this issue; our main concern is to provide the ground support to ensure that we do it very well.

“By and large there is progress.”

Buratai pledged that the military would continue to work with the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to end the insurgency and secure the release of all their captives.

In his reaction to the latest audio message released by the Boko Haram leader, Buratai described it as ‘another desperate move by the group to find relevance.’

He said the group no longer had the capacity to hold any ground or plan coordinated attack on strategic locations or key public facilities.