Michael Olugbode
The Nigerian military on Tuesday recaptured Bama, a Borno town that was captured by the Boko Haram insurgents in September last year, a security source has said.

The military had made several unsuccessful attempts in the past to recapture the strategic town from the insurgents.

With Tuesday's retrieval of Bama, a boost has been given to the ongoing war on the insurgents.

Bama, a historic Kanuri town, is the second largest town in Borno after Maiduguri.

It was learnt that the battle to uproot the insurgents from the town was led by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), the 7th division, General Lamidi Adeosun.

The GOC, an infantry general, took his team to the town on Monday and had recorded victory by Tuesday.

It was learnt that contrary to expectations, the Nigerian troops did not meet any serious resistance from the sect in Konduga and Bama towns, giving the indication that the strength of the terrorist group might have whittled down since the commencement of the ongoing clampdown.

A military source told our correspondent on the return of the troops from the battle to recapture Bama, that the renewed motivation gave victory to them. He insisted that the bravery of the GOC and the supply of new equipment equally did the magic.

The source said: "My brother, we are happy that our Commander in Chief has been able to upgrade us and as we speak, we have the right equipments to end the war in the next one week. The GOC himself is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that we meet the deadline for elections to the best of his human ability.

"The general did not even utilize our crack boys in Konduga. He just took his team from our supply of new boys here and drove straight into Bama leaving the Konduga guys to rest and continue watching his back till he took over Bama, chased the bad people out and removed their flags and installed our authority."

Another military source said: "This latest feat can be attributed to the support from Abuja. We now have the right kind of equipment to fight modern equipment and can now fight the insurgency to a standstill."

He revealed that with the recapture of Bama, the foreign soldiers who have been restricted to the nation’s border towns can now come in for the final push of the insurgents.