The news that Boko Haram or the ‘Islamic’ State Affiliate in West Africa is hungry, disoriented and on the run attributed to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister of information clearly points in a direction wide away from reality, says a top level security source. According to him the insurgents have shown “extra ordinary” resilience on several fronts and have inflicted heavy casualties not only on civilians, but on “the army [which] has lost a lot of its men.”

According to this military officer currently in Maiduguri, “the strategy was to push the insurgents out of towns that are known, to areas that are mostly unheard of in order to push the official narrative in the media that the war is almost won and settled,” he said, but the terror group’s “ability to hold their ground in several fronts and keep the Chibok girls away from every effort by the army to locate and rescue them is indicative that they remain a strong force.”

When asked whether the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in their dormitories are still alive, he said, “contrary to denials by President Buhari that he has “no credible intelligence” on the well being or whereabouts of the girls, “the terror group has provided evidence and have remained adamant over the demands they put across to government to be met, before they will release the girls.”

The abduction saga alone, “I think, has demonstrated that Boko Haram cannot be easily dismissed as being defeated, they have succeeded in doing what probably no group confronted by such international coalition has ever done,” he argued, adding that most of the rescues you hear we have done “are villagers already living in the affected areas retaken” by the military.

When asked if there are progress in the war in the recent past, he said, “of course, Boko Haram have lost territories and fighters, their ability to go on the offensive has been reduced, but they still kill forces and hold their ground in several areas and seems to be adapting other strategies faster than is expected.” However, the media, according to investigations have been inundated with pictures that shows only the group losses.

Contrary to claims by President Muhammadu Buhari, which is being re - echoed by top officials in Abuja that the group is technically defeated, this reporter authoritatively learnt that military casualties, in the last six months have risen to very worrying levels, but the details are shielded from the public. The top military official didn’t give further details and said that it is a standard policy not to reveal details of soldiers that are casualties of war. However, he insisted, “there has been progress,”

One Musa Abubakar, a member of ISWAP told salkida.com in the course of filing this report that his group is no longer keen on countering most of the misinformation in the media, “let people believe whatever they want to be told by the media of the Kufr (unbelievers), you in the media tell lies and you are fed with lies,” said Abubakar. With the heavy losses suffered by his group, he said, “has there ever been a war where one side never suffered any loss, this is common in every war, “don’t forget we are fighting soldiers from 4 countries that are backed by the rest of the world, but here we are, we are still alive, we still give everyone sleepless nights, ” he asserted.