The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Kenneth Minimah, has charged officers and soldiers involved in the ongoing counter-terrorist operations in the Northeast, to ensure that the terrorists do not have any ground or opportunity to breach security and perpetrate atrocities in any part of the areas of responsibility in the campaign.
The Army Chief stated this in Maiduguri, while addressing officers in Giwa Barracks in the course of his operational tour to check on the deployment & disposition of troops in the theatre of counterterrorist campaign covering Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Gen Minimah who commended the troops for their resilience in the ongoing offensive against the terrorists, also assured them that all necessary efforts were being made to ensure that troops did not lack any requirement that is considered vital to accelerating the success of the mission. He however warned against any form of indiscipline or mishandling of equipment available for the operation at the moment.
Continuing, the Chief of Army Staff emphasized the need for officers to continue to give required leadership to the men. “All the training and experience already imparted in all military personnel”, he said were now necessary and required to ensure that the entire effort at curbing the menace of terrorism succeed as planned.
The army chief who was in the company of his Air Force counterpart, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, also visited the Military Hospital in Maiduguri and interacted with troops who were wounded in the course of the operation. The Commander of the hospital, Brig Gen Ike Okeke, while briefing the service chiefs, stated that most of the wounded soldiers were now in stable condition and some of them have expressed the desire to rejoin their units & colleagues in the operation. The army chief however directed that the hospital should forward to him directly, any requirement for whichever case that required referral for further treatment anywhere in world.
The service chiefs also conducted a comprehensive air surveillance of the entire mission area covering Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in addition to the direct inspection of some key locations. They told reporters who accosted them for separate interviews in Maiduguri that they were satisfied with the progress of the operations & performance of the deployment so far, noting that substantial expectations of the counterterrorist campaign was being achieved satisfactorily.
