‘Army has not captured Sambisa Forest,’ Ex-minister says

monjola sotubo

January 17, 2017 1:09 PM

The Army had, on Friday, December 23, 2016, announced that it had captured Boko Haram stronghold, Sambisa Forest.

Oby Ezekwesili

Former Minister,

The Army had, on Friday, December 23, 2016, announced that it had captured the forest.

Ezekwesili however said that the army only captured a section of the forest, known as “Camp Zairo.”

“The famous Camp Zero in Sambisa? Well, it turns out that, capturing Camp Zero is NOT equal to capturing Sambisa. It is just a spot in there,” she said via Twitter.

“Capture of Camp Zero in Sambisa is akin to capturing the Capital City of a country. Camp Zero was the Capital SPOT of Boko Haram in Sambisa,” she added.

The former minister, who leads the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, visited the forest along with a Federal Government delegation on Monday, January 16.

Minister of Defence, Dan Alli had earlier explained that the army didn’t capture the entire forest, but captured Camp Zairo which was viewed as the sect’s spiritual headquarters.

“Camp Zairo is the spiritual headquarters of Boko Haram. It doesn’t mean when you capture that all of them will disappear, but it is significant because it was thought that the place was impregnable,” Alli said.

“Capturing Camp Zairo is the end of the mission to capture the place; we are not saying the campaign is over but we have dominated Camp Zairo,” he added.

ALSO READ: Group advises BBOG to support FG`s efforts to rescue students

Ezekwesili went on a guided tour of the area with other members of the BBOG, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed and local and foreign journalists.

monjola sotubo