"Boko Haram will be defeated in a couple of days" – President Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has given a strong assurance that Boko Haram will be defeated in the north eastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa in the next couple of days.

President Jonathan told the Voice of America (VOA) in an interview that the military is doing its best to clear the insurgents from occupied areas by Boko Haram.

The president said the government is aware of an arrangement where some Boko Haram fighters are being trained abroad, expressing optimism that the insurgents will soon be destroyed.

He further noted that there is an agreement with foreign technicians to train Nigerian soldiers on the use of the newly acquired military hardware.

The French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had on Wednesday assured that France will increase its West African counter insurgency forces to support the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram in West Africa.

“We will slightly increase the numbers on Barkhane to give us the means to support and accompany the tensions that are taking place around Lake Chad,” he said, without giving details.

Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin have mobilised forces this year to help Nigeria defeat Boko Haram after it seized large amounts of territory and staged cross-border attacks.

France already has about 3,000 troops, excluding special forces, spanning from Mauritania in the West to southern Libya in the East tasked with hunting down al Qaeda-linked groups.

Credit: Channels

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