FACT-CHECK: How true is Lai Mohammed’s claim that Buhari Government met 20 Borno LGs under Boko Haram in 2015?
Claim: Media reported that when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed featured on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) live programme, “Good Morning Nigeria,” he said Nigeria is better than we President Muhammadu Buhari med it in 2015. He added that the entire Northeast region was inaccessible and that 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno were under the occupation and control of Boko Haram insurgents.
Full-text: Some of the media quoting a NAN’s report states thus “speaking on the administration’s achievements, the minister saidin 2015, the entire North East region was inaccessible and 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno were under the occupation and control of Boko Haram insurgents.
“He said the Federal Government under President Buhari’s leadership has made tremendous progress better than 2015 when the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were in power, claiming that presently no portion or part of Nigeria territory was under the occupation and control of insurgents.”
Verification: Investigating the authenticity of the claim, PRNigeria noted that the minister might have relied on one of the several remarks President Muhammadu Buhari made, claiming that “all local governments taken by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have been recovered by the Nigerian troops under his (Buhari’s) administration.”
Meanwhile, PRNigeria discovered that former President Goodluck Jonathan repossessed more 14 LGAs that were controlled by Boko Haram terrorists before he left office.
Checks further revealed that Damboa and Gwoza Local Government Areas were reclaimed among others between August 2014 and March 2015 by the Nigerian troops.
PRNigeria further discovered that Bama was reclaimed in September 2014 while Kukawa was liberated in February 2015.
According to the then Director of Defence Information, Gen. Christ Olukolade, Monguno and Marte were also reclaimed in February 2015.
Further public information indicates that the Goodluck Jonathan administration liberated over 25 towns and communities that were previously occupied by terrorists.
Some credible reports reveal that foreign technical experts, including mercenaries, assisted greatly in the recovery of the occupied territories in North-East during
In fact, Voice of America (VOA) in April 2015, before the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as the 15th President of Nigeria, reported that “Aided by regional troops and foreign mercenaries, Nigeria’s military has managed to take back nearly all of the towns and villages controlled by Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeast over the past few months.
“But one area remains mostly under their control: Sambisa, a massive expanse of forest that spreads thousands of square kilometers”
Meanwhile, in January 2022, when members of Senate Committee on Army visited him, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno disclosed that two Local Government Areas – Abadam and Guzamala – were under the control of Boko Haram.
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Similarly, in December 2022, the Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan, reconfirmed that the two local government councils were still under the control of terrorists. He said the disclosure contradicts claims that all 17 council areas under Boko Haram control in 2014 have been liberated by the military under Buhari’s administration.
Conclusion: According to publicly available facts, scores of LGAs that had been under the control of Boko Haram were reclaimed by the Jonathan-led PDP administration before President Buhari’s assumption of office.
PRNigeria, therefore, concludes that the claim by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno were under the occupation and control of Boko Haram insurgents is FALSE. Similarly, the claim by Lai Mohammed that there is no portion of the country under control of the insurgents is under Buhari’s administration is DISPUTABLE going by the statement of state officials.
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