On Tuesday, the Minister of Defence, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, paid an operational visit to the Theatre Command, Operation Hadin Kai, in Maiduguri.

Mr Abubakar was accompanied by the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Mattawalle; the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff, Hassan Abubakar; Chief of Naval Staff, Emmanuel Ogalla and Chief of Defence Intelligence, Emmanuel Undiandeye.

The minister said he was in Maiduguri in the company of the high-level delegation of the service chiefs assigned by President Bola Tinubu to appraise the security situation in the theatre of operation.

He said, “President Tinubu asked us to visit the governor and the good people of Borno and our patriotic officers here in Borno to see and to hear from them what is happening both in the frontline and in the cities. What are the progress being made, and what (do) we need to do more to support their operations? 

“We had frank and honest discussions with Governor Bagana Zulum before coming here where we discussed the way forward and it is our resolve that in no distant future, we will see the end of the insecurity. He had also shared a lot of strategies with the CDS and the service chiefs and together they agreed on the next line of action and I believe if followed religiously, insecurity in the state will come to an end.”

The minister commended Governor Babagana Zulum for his support to the military.

Mr Zulum said the visit demonstrated the commitment of the service chiefs towards achieving lasting peace in Borno. He said the state’s security situation had improved tremendously due to the successes recorded by the troops. 

The Borno governor cautioned against sensational security reportage, noting that the insurgents leverage such information to breathe despite its diminishing capacity.

“The only way we can degrade their (terrorists’) presence is continued and sustained military operations,” said Mr Zulum.

He said about 160,000 insurgent fighters and their family members had surrendered due to the non-kinetic effort of the military. The governor sought the support of the military in terms of manpower development to enable the state to curtail the proliferation of transborder small arms and light weapons.

(NAN)