By Ndahi Marama & Gabriel Olawale

Maiduguri—THE Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said that 60 per cent of Boko Haram sect members terrorising the North-East, particularly around the fringes of Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad Basin, are foreigners.

This, according to him, is based on intelligence report and the recent number of repentant insurgents most of whom were discovered to be foreigners.

Buratai stated this yesterday when Special Representatives of Secretary General and Head of United Nations Office for West Africa, Mohammed Ibn-Chambas, paid him a solidarity visit at the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Meanwhile, speaking during the handover ceremony between the incoming and outgoing Commander Corps of Engineers and Commissioning of LT General TY Buratai Sappers at the Headquarters of Nigerian Army of Engineers in Lagos, Buratai said that the procurement of modern equipment such as BOZENA 5, AMTRAC 400 series, and other hand-held IED greatly helped their operation.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai

The Chief of Army Staff, who was represented by the Commander, Corps of Signal Headquarters, Lagos, Major General Christopher Jemitola, regretted that the recent re-emergence of Boko Haram, has claimed some of their personnel, but expressed confidence that insurgency would soon be a thing of past.

On his part, the outgoing Commander Corps of Engineers, Major General E. C. N. Obi, urged the Federal Government not to relent in training Corps in area of modern equipment, even as he expressed confidence in the new Commander Corps of Engineers, Major General O. O. Adeleke.

Speaking during Ibn-Chambas’ visit, Buratai said despite the renewed attacks, military troops would not rest on their oars in degrading the remnants of Boko Haram and other miscreants in the region and the country at large.