How the Nigerian Army defeated Boko Haram

The Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army has explained here how the Army defeated Boko Haram:

Many Nigerians have been wandering what magic wand the top brass of the military waved to turn the table against the rebellious Islamic sect. 

Quite a handful of permutations sprang up. One was that the assistance of the joint military forces of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon pulled the strings which gave an edge to the Nigerian troops and ultimately decimated the insurgents. 

Others averred that the purchase of new and sophisticated equipment was the joker which brought victory to the troops and returned palpable peace to the country. 

However, the country’s Chief of Army Staff, Gen Kenneth Minimah, in a chat with some journalists, recently revealed that contrary to popular opinions, the military court martial which was instituted against errant soldiers, both of the rank and file sent to the battleground was the actual magic wand which destroyed the myth of invincibility woven around the terrorists. 

According to Minimah, if his predecessors had set up the military court-martial at the inception of the war with the terrorists, the battle would not have lasted this long. 

“I’m sure that before the deferment or postponement, the atmosphere in the north east was still charged with the activities and violence of the Boko Haram sect, they still had a strong hold over a handful of local governments across the three states, and also in Gombe State. They had also threatened that they would disrupt elections and the elections would not hold.” 

“Anyone could have as well believed that it was not going to be possible. Alas today, the reality on ground has vindicated the armed forces of Nigeria, because so much has been done that as at today, we are already moving into Sambisa forest and hopefully, very soon, the military action will be rested in the north east.” 

“It is common knowledge that the Nigerian army has been demanding for equipment from the government, it is common knowledge too that part of the teething problems of the war against the insurgency has been requisite modern equipment for the Nigerian army and the Nigerian armed forces.” 

“It is common knowledge too, that the equipment the Nigerian army had were old, aging, and obsolete and that we were doing local repairs to maintain them. It is also common knowledge that the Nigerian troops were running from battle, and that the government was doing everything it could to buy equipment for the army. 

“Eventually, the equipment came in, and with my personal effort of ensuring that the affected officers and soldiers were court-martialed, dismissed for running from the adversaries, for abandoning the equipment we had and so forth, the psyche of the Nigerian soldiers changed. The equipment that arrived changed the battle dynamics, changed the battle platform, everything was reversed, the terrorists started running, and we changed the battle, that is what happened.” [Emphasis added.]

Aside from the whiff of unlawful command influence in this account, has Boko Haram been defeated? The New York Times recently noted that the abducted schoolgirls had still not been rescued.