Boko Haram, Other Insurgency Groups Can Be Decimated Before 2026 End –Irabor

Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has expressed the hope that Boko Haram and otter insurgency groups in the country could be decimated before the end of 2026.

Irabor spoke yesterday at the 2026 first quarter August Meeting in Port Harcourt, where his book; “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” was reviewed.

The August Meeting was organised by Education Champions League which was founded by a businessman and philanthropist, Kingsley Wali, to encourage reading among young people.

Irabor said: “Boko Haram can be decimated before the end of this year. The military has the capacity to do it. But non-kinetic capacity is also needed.”

The former CDS, however expressed regrets that there is no coordination in solving the challenge of insecurity facing the country.

“War may be pointless but it helps to create conditions for dialogue. A problem you do not know is a problem you cannot solve. There is no coordination in solving security issues in the country.

“People are asking why it was easy for the country to completely end a civil war within 30 months but has not been able to end Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity for close to two decades. Now, the key issue is that the contexts are completely different.

“The involvement of the military is what is constant. The context of the war you asked about was different. That war was more of a conventional war where some people had opted to create a territory for themselves. There was a containment; it was much easier to approach it. That is not what we have today with Boko Haram.

“What do we really need in Nigeria? For me and some of us, we need a secured environment for everyone to undertake economic enterprises, an equitable society where every segment feels and manifests an equal stake in Project Nigeria. Why should somebody from the Niger Delta feel marginalised? What does marginalisation even mean?

“Why should somebody from the Niger Delta feel less involved in the Nigeria project than any other person? Why should anybody from any other party of the country feel that they own Nigeria much more than those from the Niger Delta?” he said.