{"id":381024,"date":"2017-12-07T16:55:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=381024"},"modified":"2017-12-07T16:55:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:55:45","slug":"nigerias-anti-boko-haram-general-sacked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/nigerias-anti-boko-haram-general-sacked\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria’s anti-Boko Haram general sacked"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s military has sacked the commander leading the fight against militant Islamist group Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
His redeployment to an unspecified post follows a string of attacks by the insurgents, including the killing of at least 50 people in a mosque last month.<\/p>\n
No official reason was given for Maj Gen Ibrahim Attahiru’s removal.<\/p>\n
Army chief Gen Tukur Buratai gave him a deadline in July to deliver Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive within 40 days.<\/p>\n
At least 20,000 people have been killed and thousands more abducted since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May 2015 with a pledge to beat back the militants.<\/p>\n
About seven months later, he declared that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated” after the army recaptured most territory that had fallen to it.<\/p>\n
However, Boko Haram has continued carrying out bomb and gun attacks in the north-east.<\/p>\n
In July, more than 40 people died during a military operation to free people who had been ambushed in a convoy by the militants.<\/p>\n
The dead included soldiers and an oil exploration team.<\/p>\n
Maj Gen Attahiru Ibrahim was appointed to lead the offensive against Boko Haram in the north-east in May this year.<\/p>\n
He has been replaced with another general, Nicholas Rogers, who led a special military and police force to tackle ethnic clashes in the volatile central region.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s military has sacked the commander leading the fight against militant Islamist group Boko Haram. His redeployment to an unspecified post follows a string of attacks by the insurgents, including the killing of at least 50 people in a mosque last month. No official reason was given for Maj Gen Ibrahim Attahiru’s removal. Army chief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":381038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[5225],"yoast_head":"\n