We occupied Lake Chad once I was within the military — Sultan of Sokoto encourages army to wipe out Boko Haram.

Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar has suggested the army to be extra active in its battle in opposition to Boko Haram. 

The monarch who led a delegation of the National Council of Traditional Rulers on a condolence visit to Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state on Monday December 14, questioned why the army couldn’t occupy the Lake Chad and Sambisa forest (strongholds of the insurgents). 

The Sultan recalled how they occupied Lake Chad a part of Nigeria for six months when he was a  Lieutenant in the Nigerian military. 

He stated that; 

“If we want peace, we have to do away with those terrorists who occupy that place and see nothing good in other people except those that believe in their own negative ideas.

“I don’t know why we can’t occupy the whole of Lake Chad and why we can’t occupy the whole of Sambisa forest. If we want peace, we have to dominate these areas.

“I was at Lake Chad in Baga for six months, my battalion in Bama used to rotate with the battalion in Monguno and Maiduguri every six months.

“We occupied the Lake Chad part of Nigeria for six months. I was a Lieutenant, I was the operation officer and I have my maps. In Lake Chad that time, we had 36 islands under Nigeria, we occupied 16 of them, the biggest was king Nasara, we controlled that part of Nigeria effectively well as a battalion.

“I have known Maiduguri since when I was a small kid, we have grown up here. I served in Bama, I lived in Bama for over two and half years in the barracks. The same barracks I served as Lieutenant was the same barracks vandalized and bombed.”