Group hails Buhari’s sincerity, zeal for Boko Haram’s defeat

Urges more citizens’ support for military
A group known as Concerned Professionals’ Congress (CPC) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s sincerity, zeal and clarity of purpose have played major roles in the success of the Nigerian military in degrading and defeating Boko Haram to actualize his December 31, 2015deadline.

The group’s Coordinator, Tukur Musa Tilde and the Chief Media Strategist, Emeka Nwapa, who jointly addressed the press in Lagos yesterday said that the stage for the systematic fall of Boko Haram was set on May 29 at the Eagles Square inauguration ground in Abuja when he served an expiration notice to the sect to suspend its activities in the Northeast or face sanctions.

According to the group, the President followed up the notice with a clear directive to the military high command to move the operational command headquarters to Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and the epicenter of the anti-terror war followed by a series of diplomatic shuttles, the signing of regional and bilateral anti-insurgency agreements and the immediate payment of $20 million of Nigeria’s share of the logistics to the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

“It is discernible from the practical actions of our pragmatic President that finally the nation was about to witness the beginning of the end of this war which had regrettably festered for six years owing to reasons ranging from the sublime to the absurd. This government has a-no-holds-barred resolve to reverse this ugly trend of terror in the land. Buhari is sincere and straightforward. The troops can see it; Nigerians and indeed the entire world cannot deny it. His zeal and sincerity is unmistakable,” Tukur Musa Tilde maintained.

He disclosed that the President’s excellent command experience in the 1980s as General Officer Commanding, 3 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army in Jos (overseeing the Northeast zone) came very handy, resulting in his insistence on building an international and regional coalition against the insurgents. He visited the neighbouring countries such as Chad, Cameroun, Niger and Benin as well as the influential G-7 Summit in Germany where he secured the support of the countries of the African Union and ECOWAS.

“This important background information is necessary to remind Nigerians where this journey started and to properly situate the spectacular contributions of the President in giving this anti-insurgency war his best shot. He has left no one in doubt about his total commitment to ridding the entire Northeast of the Boko Haram scourge by a strategy that is focused, pragmatic and all-embracing,” the group said.

It further disclosed that the President’s clarity of purpose also manifested in the choice of the service chiefs all of whom are said to enjoy immense respect and goodwill among officers and men of the respective services. The group described the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin from the Corps of Signals as one of the best things to happen in the history of military appointments in the country. Quoting a top Presidency source, the CDS was said to have been appointed by the President based purely on service records.

“The President is believed to have finally zeroed in on him (CDS) because of what was said to be his preference for a highly professional, skillful, strategic and straight-forward officer with the humility and humanity to drive his team of officers in the three services to adequately respond to national security commitments,” the group said, pointing out that the objective has been largely met with the high sense of coordination, comradeship and camaraderie existing among the service chiefs and the troops resulting in the string of operational successes at the theatre of war so far.

The group further observed that the bonding among the service chiefs and the newly-created office of the Theatre Commander at the combat ground has extended to the troops at the battle scene thereby positioning and repositioning the nation’s Defence architecture for efficiency, effectiveness and combat readiness.