Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon yesterday, expressed fears that activities of dreaded Boko Haram insurgency may not end before December as proposed by President Mohammadu Buhari.
General Gowon disclosed this in Abakaliki shortly after an advocacy visit to the Ebonyi State Governor Chief Dave Umahi on rolling back malaria and four other neglected tropical diseases.
General Gowon said, however, that with the present strategies adopted by the military in the fight, the insurgency group may soon be flushed out.
General Gowon, who is also the Team Leader of Advocacy Group, Roll Back Malaria, regretted the use of young innocent girls in the perpetration of suicide attacks by the terrorist group. He, however, also noted that there are possibilities of ending the insurgency before the December 2015 deadline.
His words:
“The war against the insurgency started during the administration of President Jonathan, and the military just before the election did a tremendous job fighting the group – which made it possible for elections to be conducted in North East. Since then, with the coming in of President Muhammadu Buhari, work is also being done until (Boko Haram) decided to be sending poor, little, innocent girls to do some of the crimes they engage in. But I can assure you that the insurgency would soon end. I have the confidence that very soon, with what (the Nigerian Military) are doing at the moment, the group would be flushed out.”
“I can tell you this, nobody can really talk about when any particular operation is going to end. And as a (former) Commander in Chief, I am certain of this. You target a particular time, but it may finish before that time or it may go slightly beyond. To end it, that to me is the most important thing.”
Gowon also urged the nation to pray fervently for a successful military outcome against the terror group.
The former Head of State was in the state to seek the support of the state government in the fight against malaria and the four deadly tropical Elephantiasis, River Blindness, Soil transmitted Helminths and Bilharzia.
In a remark, the State Governor, Chief Dave Umahi, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Bernard Odoh stated that sustainable development could not be achieved with such diseases ravaging the State and urged the group to decentralize the implementation of the advocacy process to enable the local government benefit from the programme.
Odoh stated that such diseases could be linked to a dirty environment and urged the people to cue into the environmental policy of the state which intends to achieve a clean and healthy environment.
Earlier, State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezurike, denied insinuations in some quarters that there was a polio case in the State and noted that from the result of the test received by the state government, there was no polio outbreak in the state as was reported.