Boko Haram plans to take over North -FG

The Federal Government on Tuesday alleged it had uncovered the motives behind Boko Haram's bombings and killings in the North.

The Minister of Defence, Dr. Mohammed Bello, alleged that the dreaded sect was out to forcibly Islamise the whole of the North.

Mohammed made the claim during an interview with journalists in Abuja.

He said if not for the sustained efforts of the military and other security agencies, Boko Haram's attacks would have affected the whole of the North and even other states having borders with the North.

He also said the strong presence of the soldiers in the troubled areas reduced the killings and bombings in North-East.

He said, “It is a great achievement for our security services to restrict Boko Haram to the North- East.

“The agenda of the sect is not for the North-East alone; all the states of the North were to be Islamised and all the states around the area would have been affected.

“The killings have been reduced by the strong presence of the security forces and what is left is the root causes of the crisis.”

The ministers urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

He also appealed to various segments of the society to work towards overcoming the security challenges posed by the group by volunteering information to security agencies.

Mohammed said the deployment of soldiers in the streets of some states was based on security reports that some people were capitalising on the protests to create anarchy.

He said that such people had sworn to continue with the protest after Labour had called of the strike to cause confusion and create the impression that the government was killing its citizens as was the case in Syria and the Islamic Maghreb.

He said with the security reports at its disposal, the government had no other option but to prevent people with evil intents to cause trouble.

He said while the government appreciated the rights of Nigerians to protest and the rights of Labour to go on strike, it had a responsibility to ensure effective maintenance of law and order and ensure the safety of Nigerians.

The minister also urged the media to report acts of violence and criminality against the society with caution to avoid playing into the hands of criminals in desperate need of publicity to achieve set objectives.

He added, “When you report criminal or acts of violence conveniently, you end up glorifying criminality thereby making more and more people to key into criminal activities.

“I think the media should always aim at condemning any tendency that is not in the overall interest of the people. How to do that is well known to you.”