A UK-based Nigerian counter-terrorism expert has has dismissed the December 2015 deadline given by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Nigerian military to defeat Boko Haram terrorists.

“The December deadline to defeat the sect will not be possible,” Francis Okoemu, Chairman/CEO, Blackwell Security Consultancy, UK Ltd., and a member of UK’s Security Industry Authority (SIA), said while delivering a lecture at the University of Leeds.

He spoke on the topic, ‘Migrants Crisis in Europe and International Terrorism, Which Way Forward?’

Okoemu is of the view that Nigeria needs divine intervention to defeat the terrorists, even in the next one year. “Without God the Nigeria Army alone cannot defeat Boko Haram,” he said.

Painting a scary picture of the situation in which Nigeria finds itself, Okoemu said: “We have to pray seriously because Boko Haram is planning a very serious and heavy attack that bears resemblance to what happened in Egypt and 9/11 or the Britain 7/7 terrorist attacks.”

He advised President Buhari to explore the option of dialogue to end the insurgency, noting that the Nigerian leader “has still not offered a genuine negotiation or opened genuine negotiations with the sect.”

Speaking on contemporary developments in Europe, Okoemu warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Union of the future consequences of allowing the deluge of refugees from the Middle East into their countries.

“It is very difficult to differentiate genuine refugees from the terrorists and if they want to help they should take refugees from the refugees camps and not those who are smuggling themselves into Europe,” he said.

The lecture, jointly organised by University of Leeds and University of Salford School of International Security, was attended by over 700 students, academics and security personnel, including from the police, army and navy.

•Photo shows counter-terrorism expert, Francis Okoemu.

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