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Written by Naijatalk Nigeria

boko_haram Abuja. — Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Onyeabo Ihejirika, on Wednesday promised to quash the Boko Haram insurgency with all legal means and end the carnage in the North.

The fundamentalist Islamic sect is not invisible as being bandied about, he said, explaining that it breached security because it is amorphous and intimidates citizens.

Ihejirika made the point at a press conference at Army Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday when he spoke on the activities for this year's Army Day celebration.

He labelled Boko Haram a terrorist group aided by traitors who must be exposed and stopped.

He disclosed that the Army will in the next 10 years concentrate on internal peace support to end insurgency nationwide, which is encouraged by the porous borders through which arms are smuggled into Nigeria.

Said Ihejirika: "Nobody should be intimidated by Boko Haram. That is their tactics, to intimidate the people into not offering information about them. If they are not cowards, they should come out into the open.

"The terrorists live among the people and by that, are able to intimidate them into not giving out information to the security agencies. But they need to be exposed to be arrested.

"Sometimes they may not have those weapons in their individual houses, so that when they are arrested in their houses, you may not find anything incriminating, yet they are there. It is possible they have some hideouts for weapons to avert anything incriminating being found on them."

He stressed, however, that the Army will not play a leading role in the confrontation, because 90 per cent of it involves intelligence and patriotism.

"The involvement of the military is mainly because of the sophistication of their operation, the type of weapons they use, among others.

"Nigerians, religious leaders and traditional leaders must come out and expose these traitors.

"Nigerians are too accommodating, our borders are too porous and Custom officials have not done enough because arms and ammunition used by these groups are imported.

"All hands must be on deck, the Customs has to change its attitude, especially as it concerns importation of arms into this country. All must live up to their responsibilities."

Security can be breached in several ways and anywhere, Ihejirika warned, and that is why the Army is pleading with Nigerians to regard security as important.

He said the theme of this year's Army Day celebration to be held in Uyo, 'Enhancing the capacity of the Nigerian Army to meet contemporary security challenges,' is apt because it comes in the wake of transformation efforts, democracy, and security challenges.

Source: Allafrica