New Defence chief says Boko Haram must end by April

Newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Marshal Alex Badeh yesterday said the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East must be brought to a stop before April this year. He spoke during a ceremony to take over from the former CDS, Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim at the defence headquarters in Abuja. According […]

Newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Marshal Alex Badeh yesterday said the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East must be brought to a stop before April this year.

He spoke during a ceremony to take over from the former CDS, Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim at the defence headquarters in Abuja.
According to Air Marshal Badeh, the security situation in the North-east must be brought to a complete stop before April 2014.
“I was telling my colleagues that we must bring it to a stop by April so that we do not have constitutional problems in our hands. We don’t want to go back to the Senate and start begging and lobbying. If we do our work cohesively I can guarantee that General Minimah, you will finish that thing in no time,” he said.
“The youths say there are members of this thing in the armed forces and what, those of you that are here, send word to your colleagues there that they are in trouble, we are coming after you. I will do my best to guide the armed forces of Nigeria towards achieving the desired successes. Unity of command is the preferred method of achieving unity of effect and effort by our military forces”, he added. Outgoing Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim, warned that the Nigerian armed forces exist to deepen democracy and not undermine it, saying, “The soul of our armed forces is to deepen our democracy.” The outgoing Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, said the Nigerian Army has only five senior officers earmarked for retirement after the appointment of General Minimah and not over 30 as carried in certain parts of the media.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony to the new Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah yesterday, former Chief of Army Staff General Azuibike Ihejerika warned against overheating the polity, especially with the issue of insurgency in the North-east, saying no military commander would encourage his troops to violate the human rights of citizens. In his first speech as the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah said under his leadership, the Nigerian army would remain loyal to the constitution of Nigeria with President Goodluck Jonathan as the Commander in Chief.