I think, technically, we have won the war with Boko Haram – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed Nigerian military is close to completely defeating the Islamist militants.

Buhari told the BBC, the militants could no longer mount conventional attacks against security forces or population centres.

He said,

“I think, technically, we have won the war,”The jihadists have been forced to cut back on suicide bombings as a result of the military action against them

“Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices (IEDs),” he said. “They have now been reduced to that.”

“Boko Haram is an organised fighting force, I assure you, [but] we have dealt with them.”

This comes at a time, President Buhari gave the army until the end of the December to defeat Boko Haram when he took over office from former leader Goodluck Jonathan, whose six-year insurgency has devastated north-eastern Nigeria.

The Boko Haram insurgency is understood to have killed some 17,000 people and left more than two million homeless.