We’re fighting Al-Qaeda not Boko Haram — Military

THE Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, on Wednesday, said the ongoing counter-terrorism and counter- insurgency war has gone beyond Boko Haram Islamic sect to a broader war against Al-Qeada terror networks in North and West Africa. Badeh stated this in Abuja, when the Social Welfare Network Initiative (SWNI), a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) and community-based non-governmental organisations in Nigeria paid him a solidarity visit at Defence Headquarters. The CDS said the military and Federal Government were in a serious war far bigger than confronting Boko Haram, saying that Al- Qeada was now fully in charge of terrorist activities in the country. He, however, assured that despite the “formidable nature of the global terror network,” Nigeria will defeat them, while giving further assurance that the kidnapped Chibok girls will be rescued. “I will say this to you, we are fighting more than Boko Haram. We are no longer fighting Boko Haram but Al-Qaeda in North and West Africa. Al-Qaeda is formidable, but we will defeat them. As for our girls, we will bring them back,” he said. Speaking further, Badeh warned those attacking the military to desist from doing so. He said the scathing attacks and unconstructive criticisms against the military could be counter- productive and impact negatively on the security of the country. Earlier, the national coordinator of SWNI, Mr Emmanuel Osemeka, had assured members of the Armed Forces of their support, saying that “we are not worried about our capacity to prosecute this war, as we are all witnesses to the exploits of our military in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and many other African countries in the recent past.”