We have restricted Boko Haram to Sambisa Forest – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, said that the Nigerian military is gaining ground against Boko Haram insurgents ravaging northeastern Nigerian, noting that the sect’s activities have been largely limited to Sambisa Forest.

The President said this in Ghana at a joint press conference with President John Dramani Mahama during his one-day official visit to the country.

“The first thing I did after I came into office was to reorganize the military and clear orders were given to them in terms of retraining, re-equipping and redeployment of troops.

“In the northeast, the military is gaining ground and Boko Haram has been limited to the Sambisa forest.

“Internally Displaced Persons are gradually moving back home and they are being reintegrated into their respective communities,”

In spite of President Buhari’s reassuring words, a spike in violence by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria has forced almost 800,000 people to flee their homes since June, and stretched humanitarian efforts to breaking point according to a Reuters report.

“This is a massive regional humanitarian crisis, with some of the highest human cost in the world,” Red Cross spokeswoman Aurélie Lachant told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Civilians continue to be victims of the conflict… aid is still not reaching hundreds of thousands of people.”