President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that the command centre for the fight against Boko Haram should be moved immediately to Maiduguri which is the epic-centre of the long time battle.
Buhari acknowledged that though Progress has been made in recent weeks by the security forces but that victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja.
In his imauguration speech at the Eagle Square, Abuja today, the new President acknowledged that the most immediate security challenge facing the country now is Boko Haram’s insurgency, stressing that the command centre would remain in Maiduguri until the insurgence is completely subdued. Buhari said that his government would not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.
“This government will do all it can to rescue them alive. Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires. An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given posthumous fame and following by his extra judicial murder at the hands of the police. Since then through official bungling, negligence, complacency or collusion, Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking tens of thousands of lives and capturing several towns and villages covering swathes of Nigerian sovereign territory.
“Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of. At the end of the hostilities when the group is subdued, the Government intends to commission a sociological study to determine its origins, remote and immediate causes of the movement, its sponsors, the international connexions to ensure that measures are taken to prevent a reccurrence of this evil.
“For now, the Armed Forces will be fully charged with prosecuting the fight against Boko haram. We shall overhaul the rules of engagement to avoid human rights violations in operations. We shall improve operational and legal mechanisms so that disciplinary steps are taken against proven human right violations by the Armed Forces.”
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