Buhari: We’ve isolated Boko Haram

President of the Republic of Togo, Faure Esossimna Gnassingbe (left) and President Muhammadu Buhari during the Togolese President’s working visit to Nigeria for bilateral discussions held at the Presidential Villa Abuja yesterday.

President Muhammadu Buhari says Boko Haram insurgents have been isolated, saying this is already giving peace a chance to reign.
President Buhari said this was made possible by the concerted efforts of member-states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic.
He spoke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday at a joint press briefing with the president of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema, who visited Nigeria for condolences over terrorist attacks and to formally invite him to a regional summit on maritime security and development holding in November in Togo.
“Since the cooperation of the regional countries comprising Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, we have identified our problem and achieved positive results in terms of isolation of Boko Haram and giving a chance to peace,” Buhari said.
Stressing the need for collaboration among African nations to address their challenges, President Buhari emphasised that without securing the region, there would be no sustainable development.
The president noted that it is not easy fighting on so many fronts with the security challenges in the north-east and the south-south, coupled with the challenge providing infrastructure in the country.
Buhari thanked his visitor for his concern about the regional security, the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, oil theft, illegal fishing and oil pollution.
Earlier, Eyadema lamented that the Gulf of Guinea lost $7b to piracy annually, saying “The challenge of maritime security in Africa is so much that we cannot allow it that way.”
According to him, “if all the African countries are on the same page, it’d be easy to tackle the security challenges. So, we’ve to keep holding summits because individual countries cannot combat piracy effectively without cooperation. If you try to fight them in Togo, they go to the next country.”
The Togolese leader, who described security as a big issue in the sub-region, commended the efforts of Buhari and the Nigerian armed forces towards combating terrorism in West Africa.