President Buhari has sent a powerful delegation
to two states, Adamawa and Borno States to
condole with their governments and people over
the increased bombing activity by Boko Haram
terrorists, with a strong appeal to local
populations to share in the responsibility for
security in their surroundings.
The President, who spoke through the leader of the
delegation, Engineer Babachir David Lawal, the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation,SGF directed all
communities in the country to revert to old practices by
which new arrivals in their neighborhoods were taken
note of by local chiefs and security agencies.
Going down the memory lane, the President recalled that
these were practices that worked well in past in securing
neighborhoods and local communities." The ward head,
the village head and the local police knew every new
entrant into the community. They kept tabs on them and
detected traits of criminality before evil-doers get the
chance to act against common interest. We must go
back to those rudimentary acts of local policing," the
President reiterated, adding that the job of securing our
life and property is too important to be left to security
officials alone. "We must help them to do their job.The
responsibility of detecting criminals lies with all of us.
In this new phase of the war, all of us are generals, all
of us are foot soldiers, all of us are intelligence
officers." In commiserating with families who lost dear
ones and the inpatients in the hospitals visited by the
delegation on his behalf, President Buhari assured of the
full support of the government and the determination of
his administration to end the menace of the Boko Haram
terrorists by the year's end. In his message at hospitals,
emirs' palaces and Government Houses in the two states
as read by the SGF, the President said that "the security
situation in the North East remains a great source of
concern for me. Although there are clear indications that
the military is recording great successes in the theatre
of operations, the enemy has been able to carry out his
murderous campaign by attacking soft targets using
Improvised Explosive Devices.
His intention is to create widespread fear amongst the
civilian population since he cannot subdue our armed
forces. The sporadic tactics used by these criminals is a
sign that they are under intense pressure in the forests
and in the countryside where they previously enjoyed a
lot of freedom of action. "The sheer tenacity displayed
by our troops in the last three months has resulted in
degrading the capacity of the enemy significantly. I am
confident that the ability of the enemy to attack and
seize towns and villages has been virtually neutralized.
"Having said that, our people cannot continue to be the
victims of a senseless war, living in perpetual fear and
denied the right to pursue their legitimate undertakings
in peace.
As a leader, I want to assure our citizens in every part
of Nigeria that the government is doing everything
humanly possible to bring to a swift end, the suffering
and losses occasioned by this insurgency. I deeply
sympathize with the families who have lost loved ones.
"As I said a few times in the past, desperate actions
such as the detonation of IEDs will take a longer time to
eradicate even as our optimism continues to grow that
Boko Haram as a fighting force will be crushed by the
year’s end. After that, we hope all displaced
communities will be returned to their towns and villages.
But even when this is about to happen, there will still
remain vital tests and challenges. We must work hard to
eradicate all forms of extremism. Citizens must join
hands with security forces in the effort to detect
unrepentant terrorists embedded in our neighbourhoods.
We must all be watchful over any suspicious activity and
report same to law enforcement agents for their prompt
action," the President stressed. The members of the
government delegation that accompanied the SGF
included the Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Mala Mai Buni,
a member of the House of Representatives, Hon.
Mohammed Tahir Munguno, the Senior Special Assistant
to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, a
Permanent Secretary in the office of the SGF Bukar
Maina a leading figure in the APC Alhaji Modi Aliyu
Mahmood. Governors of Adamawa and Borno, Senator
Jibrilla Bindow and Bukar Shettima as well as their
leading Chiefs who received the delegations in their
abodes thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for
sending the delegation as well as his dogged efforts to
end Boko Haram terrorism and securing the country.
In his particular remarks, Governor Shettima
commended the President for his interest. He said
"before he assumed the leadership of the country, the
state was In a very, very sorry state. The Boko Haram
terrorists had 20 councils under them. Now, all but three
have been liberated. Of the over three million citizens in
IDP camps, 85% of them are in Borno State. We were
left to cater for the IDPs. Now we have NEMA taking
care of the camps.
We thank the President for the delegation. We are not
used to this. We were left to our own fate for four years
under the previous administration. We are absolutely
settled that the President is behind us. We are
absolutely settled in the belief he will help us rebuild our
communities. By May 29th next year, every son and
daughter of Borno will be back in their villages. We will
continue to ensure community involvement in securing
the environment," the Governor concluded by way of
assurance.
Garba Shehu, SSA to the President, Media and Publicity
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