- Says their resort to video propaganda just to shore up recruitment due to dwindling numbers as a result of desertion and killings
The Nigerian Army on Friday said Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists have resorted to video propaganda following the reality of defeat on them “as a result of the sustained and well coordinated military bombardments from both Land and Air Components of Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK).”
Nigerian Army Spokesperson, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said in a statement that faced with a “fast depleting fighting force,” the terrorists is using the video propaganda to “clandestinely conscript unsuspecting individuals to join their fold.”
The statement described as futile, the Boko Haram/ISWAP “subtle recruitment drive” as portraying “a lavish lifestyle in their so-called fortress; a psychological strategy desperately deployed to attract impressionable youths and unsuspecting individuals.”
The full statement by General Nwachukwu reads: “Faced with the obvious reality of defeat and inability to carry out attacks that have hitherto been the strategy to assert relevance in the eyes of the public, Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) have resorted to cheap propaganda in order to seek relevance. This of course, was as a result of the sustained and well coordinated military bombardments from both Land and Air Components of Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK).
“This sustained operation has exerted so much pressure on the terrorists and their sympathizers, whose only available weapon now, is cheap and uncoordinated propaganda. In recent times, a good number of these terrorists have surrendered to troops in different locations across the theatre, a trend that indicates that they are loosing the capacity to remain in the fight. Apparently, there are indications that their fighting capability has been severely encumbered by devastating depletion, with their remnants deserting various enclaves, leaving behind a few diehards that will undoubtedly be eliminated by the highly spirited troops of OPHK in no distant future.
“In a bid to replenish their fast depleting fighting force and clandestinely conscript unsuspecting individuals to join their fold, BHT embarked on a subtle recruitment drive using the said propaganda video to portray a lavish lifestyle in their so-called fortress; a psychological strategy desperately deployed to attract impressionable youths and unsuspecting individuals.
“A cursory look at the video revealed an amateur work of doctored old clips and images from different backgrounds, skewed with blurred imageries that are incoherent and illogical. The incontrovertible reality is that the group is facing imminent destruction and extinction. Contrary to the false impression they attempt to project, of a blissful live in their enclaves, the true situation in their evil enclave is one of hunger, disease, brutality, high level of immorality and the constant fear of military offensives.
“This is largely responsible for the terrorists’ turning in their arms in droves as the gallant troops of OPHK are rendering their enclaves uninhabitable with fierce offensives. What the terrorists did not tell their target audience is that their fighters and family members are currently surrendering to the troops in multitudes, laying down their arms and renouncing their membership of the evil organisation and that they were misled in joining in the first place.
“As a matter of fact, most of the terrorists who surrendered to the troops lamented that the condition in their enclaves have become too harsh and completely unbearable that they had no option than to give themselves up to troops. This is the reality of the situation that confronts every BHT member, contrary to the make-belief and propaganda they conjured up in the video.
“The Nigerian Army (NA) being a professional force, adheres to extant laws and international best practices, particularly the provisions that relate to a situation when an adversary surrenders. This informed the acceptance of some BHT members who laid down their arms and willfully denounced violent campaigns. The NA will however not hesitate to subdue unrepentant BHTs who are still fanning the embers of violence in the North East.
“While carrying out its constitutional mandate, the NA will continue to safeguard the territorial integrity of Nigeria in furtherance of peace and stability in the West African Sub-region. Therefore, individuals or groups who have fallen to the antics of BHTs’ clandestine recruitment drive, projected through the propaganda video are advised to surrender themselves and their weapons to the nearest military or security forces outfit or risk testing the might of the ongoing counter insurgency operations.”
