Date: 2017-09-02

Nigeria's Information and Culture Minister Alhaji lai Mohammed has urged the media to deny the Boko Haram insurgents publicity of any form on their platforms.

Alhaji Mohammed made this remark on Friday during the Eid-El-Kabir celebration at his home town of Oro in Kwara state North Central Nigeria.

The Minister also used the opportunity to debunk the insinuation in some circles that there was a resurgence of boko haram in some parts of the country because of some recent unfortunate events.

"The truth is that there is no resurgence of boko haram. Cowardly bombings and kidnappings are some of the hallmarks of an asymmetric warfare that insurgencies are. And like I say all the time, such wars do not end by the signing of any truce. They taper off with time, as this one surely will.

As we celebrate this Festival of Sacrifice, we owe the marked improvement in the security situation in our country in general and the North-east in particular to the men and women in uniform, who have sacrificed so much to make our country safer than at any other time since the boko haram insurgency started in 2009."

He said even though the country is not totally out of the woods yet, but Nigeria is much better today than in 2015, when President Muhammadu Buharis' Administration assumed office.

The Minister said the purposeful leadership by President Muhammadu Buhari, the professionalism and commitment of the Service Chiefs and the unending sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has made Nigeria safer today.

He said, "especially the North-east, is safer today than it was when the Administration came into office in 2015…and it can only get better.

So, as we celebrate today, we should all remember our troops in our prayers and continue to support them.

"However, the media must deny the insurgents the oxygen they desperately crave to survive – which is publicity!"

It would be recalled that Nigeria had been battling Boko Haram insurgency since 2009 but according to the government, it has now tactically defeated the insurgents and confined their operation to a few areas of the North East except for a few clandestine attacks on soft targets in form of suicide bombing, kidnapping and the likes.