Military ties with Cameroon, others to be sustained

The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has promised that his government will not terminate the military collaboration Nigeria has with Cameroon, Niger and Chad to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

Buhari said this when Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State led a delegation from the state on a congratulatory visit to Buhari.

A statement issued on Monday by the Special Adviser to Borno State Governor on Media, Mallam Isa Gusau, after the visit quoted Buhari as telling the team including the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn-Garbai El-Kanemi and some elders from the state, that he was aware of the problems of the North-East and would not waste time in tackling them.

Gusau said Buhari promised that his administration would enhance collaboration with Chad, Niger and Cameroon to curtail the trans-border movement of Boko Haram insurgents, cut their supply of arms, recruitment and training of recruits.

The president-elect, according to him, said the stability of the North-East was a must project for his administration, insisting that nothing could be achieved unless peace was restored to the troubled region. He also promised to focus on re-activating the Lake Chad in addition to deploying resources to resume search for oil along the Chad Basin.

The president-elect also assured the delegation that the receding Lake Chad would be addressed through the transfer of water from the Central African Republic to the lake to boost fishing and irrigation farming.

Buhari, who acknowledged delays in oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin, said he was aware of oil exploration activities in the area since 1978 when he was the Minister of Petroleum.

The President-elect also promised to pay special attention to the economic potential of the North-East so as to make it attractive for investment. Shettima had earlier disclosed that the team visited the President-elect to congratulate him on his historic victory at the polls and to also remind him of the problems affecting the state.

He said the citizens looked up to Buhari with so much hope because the President-elect was familiar with the problems of the state and how it had suffered in the last six years due to the destructive activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The Shehu of Borno appealed to the President-elect to consider making the Federal Government to take over the welfare of the youth volunteers fighting insurgency in the state.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Defence, Col. Augustine Akobondu (retd.), has said that the loyalty of the military is to the state and not individuals.

Akobundu, who commended the military for their loyalty to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, made the comment during his first working visit to the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Monday.

The Minister of State urged the military to give the same degree of support to the incoming administration of the Buhari, as provided for in the Constitution.

Also speaking, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, said that the minister’s remarks were only a reminder to the military about what he had said continually that military loyalty was to the Constitution of Nigeria and not to individuals.