The Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Turkur Buratai has said that the country has defeated insurgency and now facing the challenges of terrorism.

In an exclusive interview, Buratai said “We must differentiate between insurgency and terrorism. I have tried to tell them at the national assembly. Someone said three local governments are under Boko Haram. How? These guys are not controlling any territory. They attempted to establish their territory, caliphate in Gwoza but they have not been able to because they were flushed out. That is insurgency. They are not holding any territory.

“Typically, that is the end of insurgency. But what of terrorism? Terrorism will outlive you and me and probably everybody in this house because terrorism, since it started, just like armed robbery, like kidnapping, burglary, cultism, it would continue.

“These are all smaller parts of terrorism. It is when it goes higher that you have arsonists, like it happened in Borno yesterday, murder and so on deliberately, no cause.

“What is happening now is just criminality. Since last year, we have not given them any respite. They are now blocked. They no longer have access to foods; their movements are constrained; they no longer get the fuel they need easily because we have strangulated them.

“They are now in a depressed state; so, they go out with vengeance to attack commuters, to abduct individuals and targeting certain religious persons just for their propaganda. This also is one of Boko Haram’s strategies – propaganda,” Buratai added.