By Demola Akinyemi

ILORIN— Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, in Nigeria and Speaker, Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan, has said only one local government is yet to be liberated from the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State out the 20 local government areas earlier occupied.

He also assured that the December deadline to rout the Boko Haram insurgents from Nigeria would be met.
Lawan spoke in Ilorin, yesterday, at the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly organised to deliberate on a model administration of criminal justice act.

The speaker said the Nigeria military had never been so committed in the fight against insurgency.

According to him, “as of now, only one local government is yet to be liberated from the clutch of the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State. That’s the Abadam, located along border town of Niger Republic.

“Nineteen local governments are now in control of the military. And the people are gradually returning to their homes in the affected areas. Military is very serious in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. We never experienced the kind of commitment from military before.

“They have driven the Boko Haram to the bush. I am sure the military is equal to the task and will meet the time line of December 2015 to rout the insurgents by December. The Chief of Army Staff is leading the military.

“Various local governments captured by Boko Haram have been recaptured with the federal troops stationed there as they proceed to other local governments. So, now only Abadam local government is not liberated. I am sure they are going to liberate every local government in the state.”

He urged the people of the area to continue to support the military to”find an end to this madness and unislamic act. Because Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have suffered so much due to this security challenge in the last six years. Now, we are gradually getting relative peace. So, I advise the people in all these areas to support the military.”  .

Declaring open the workshop, the state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed said: “A sound criminal justice system is imperative for economic growth, political stability and social equilibrium. It is impossible to have a sound economy without a solid foundation of good laws that can curb anti-social behaviours and other disruptive tendencies in the society.

“Additionally, a sound criminal system is a prerequisite for rule of law which, as you know, is an essential component of good governance. This is because no modern society can thrive unless there are strong laws to guide social, economic and political conduct of its citizens.”

“Unless the citizens are aware of and abide by a robust criminal justice system, the sense of security, peace and lawfulness for economic and political development will be missing.”

Ahmed however lauded the initiative of the speakers of the 36 states of the federation to organize the workshop saying that, their deliberations would go a long way of fashioning out way out of dwindling criminal justice in the country.