President Muhammadu Buhari has given the new service chiefs three month ultimatum to end Boko Haram’s bloody six-year insurgency.
The President who swore them in today, a day after their appointments were confirmed by the Senate remarked: “you need to brace up and continue to team up with other stakeholders to come up with a well-coordinated joint effort which will bring a desired end to these insurgencies within three months.”
President Buhari expressed worry that the activities of Boko Haram have resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties of the citizens and a disruption of social economic lives of millions of Nigerians.
The president advised the armed forces, who have been accused of widespread human rights abuses in the fight against the insurgency, to conform with international law.
“In particular, you must protect innocent civilians and respect the rights of combatants,” he said.
The air force said in a statement after the ceremony that it had deployed additional firepower to the north-east “in a renewed drive to crush the fighting will” of Boko Haram, including fighter jets, attack helicopters and ATR-42 planes, without specifying numbers. [myad]
