The National Security Adviser retired Major General Babagana Monguno, service chiefs and other senior military officers yesterday arrived Maiduguri the Borno State capital for a three-day reassessment visit of military operations in the fight against Boko Haram militants in the North-east.
The visit by the security chiefs comes a day after President Muhammadu Buhari challenged them to end the Boko Haram insurgency in three months. The president gave the order while decorating the recently appointed service chiefs.
On Friday, Mr. Monguno, a retired Major General, led the service chiefs to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for what he described as a reassessment of the operational strategy with a view to positioning the troops to effectively actualise the directives of the president.
He said he could stake out his neck for the newly appointed military chiefs and vouched for their professional competence and credibility.
Upon arriving Maiduguri, the NSA, who was accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Baba Abubakar; and the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, went into a closed-door discussion with Governor Kashim Shettima for nearly two hours before coming out to perform the perfunctory courtesy call session.
“With the recent change of government, there was a tendency to replace old officials with the new structure”, Mr. Monguno said. “And amongst these replacements in the military is the change of service chiefs. This was exactly a month and a day ago in which myself and the new service chiefs were appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, and given special mandate. The president has left us in no doubt as to what he wants us to achieve, taking into consideration that the most pressing issue facing Nigeria today is the insurgency that faces us in the north-eastern region of the country.
“Ordinarily, we would have hit the ground running since our appointments, but I felt that we should wait for the Senate to confirm the new service chiefs and for the President to decorate them in their new ranks. And as soon as that is done we found ourselves here, the hottest point. That is why less than 24 hours after the decoration we have come here today.
“The purpose of this visit is for all us to come and reassess the operational situation on the ground with the view to effecting the required changes at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
“Mr. President has told us that he wants this insurgency to end within the shortest possible time; he has given a time-frame which we are all aware of. His commitment to ending this insurgency is not in doubt. He has charged us to carry out this mission, knowing full well that he has picked the people which as far as he is concerned were the best to end this insurgency”.