Boko Haram Targets Pupils, Foreigners For Ransom – FG

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Segun Adeyemi.

“Boko Haram terrorists who have been beaten and put on the run by the military, are planning another sensational abduction of pupils/students or foreigners in a desperate effort to raise funds, through ransom, for food, medical and arms supply,’’ he said.

According to him, the largely defeated terrorists have now concentrated their attacks on soft targets, like motor parks, schools and entertainment centres.
He said the terrorists had been decimated to a level that they are now incapable of staging spectacular attacks like they used to do.

“The kidnap of the Chibok girls in 2014 which attracted global attention to the terrorist group is what it is now trying to repeat, hoping it can find vulnerable targets, especially schools, or a group of foreigners outside the frontline states.

“The plan by Boko Haram is also part of an overall strategy by the terrorists to seek to negatively impact on the psyche of the gallant troops who have routed them (terrorists) from their stronghold.

“And also give the impression that they have not been largely defeated by the December 2015 deadline given by this Administration to effectively degrade the insurgency in the North-East.

“This is why we have decided to issue this alert to enable the authorities of both public primary and secondary schools in remote locations, particularly in the Northern states, to upgrade their security arrangements,’’ the minister said.

Mohammed assured that the Federal Government would build on the successes recorded by the military which had largely met the deadline to degrade the capability of the terrorists.