BY EMEKA MAMAH

About 300 out of the estimated 500 Boko Haram members have so far been apprehended by the security agencies across the country, a Presidency source  said yesterday.

According to him, “I can tell you that we are on top of the Boko Haram issue. We have so far rounded up about 300 out of the 500 Boko Haram members and we are still arresting many of them. We have not been resting on our oars and it is wrong to insinuate that President Jonathan was not treating the issue with the seriousness it deserves. As we are talking now, we are pursuing both financiers and operatives of the Islamic sect”.

However, another highly placed security official within the Presidency has advised Jonathan to ensure adequate punishment of offenders to serve as deterrent to others who would want to destabilise the country using religion as cover.

He told Vanguard that Nigeria must build detention centres to accommodate suspects involved in the bombing of the country like the Ita- Oko detention camp built by the Obasanjo’s administration as a military if the Boko Haram threat would be curtailed.

‘’America even had to get a legislation to tackle the detention of Al- Qaeda suspects after the September 11, 2001 bombings in the country.

‘’We need a special legislation to deal with this matter, because it is not good to detain the Boko Haram suspects in ordinary prisons or police stations. ‘Those who advised the President to throw out the idea of special detention centres must know that the survival of the country is at stake,’’ the senior security official further said.