By Omoruyi
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Tuesday, said all that was remaining for the war on Boko Haram to end was for the political class, the intelligence community, Nigeria Police and other civil authorities to play their roles.
He said the military had played its role well and won the war by successfully degrading Boko Haram and reclaiming captured Nigerian territories.
Speaking during the decoration of 45 newly promoted Major Generals, Buratai said, “The Nigerian Army has played its role satisfactorily. We have won the ground war and the Boko Haram terrorists substantially degraded. We have secured Nigeria’s territorial integrity and equally maintained its sovereignty. We have carried out our tasks proudly and professionally.
“What is remaining now is for other stakeholders – the political class and intelligence community – to take up the salient aspects of this war to the remaining ill-fated insurgents.
“The NPF must be fully on the ground in all the states in the North-East; civil administration must be fully re-established in all the local government areas. The civil authorities must fight the ideological, social and propaganda wars.”
He added, “The issues of indoctrination and propaganda by the terrorists must be stopped. These are the surest way to finally defeat the insurgents.
“The choice of this venue (Maiduguri) for the investiture is predicated on the need to boost the morale of troops in the theatre and also to celebrate your elevation with the law-abiding people of the North-East, who enjoy normalcy today as a result of the fruit of your service.”
He told the decorated officers that, “Nigeria will always remain our constituency and we all must be 100 percent committed to maintaining its territorial integrity. The large number of you that have merited to be promoted to this enviable rank of Major General indicates the significant attainment of my vision of having a professionally responsive Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles.
“It is often said that promotion is a privilege and comes from God but again, without hard work, anyone’s ambition to be promoted will be difficult to achieve, if not impossible. It is on this premise that I commend all the newly promoted senior officers for their hard work, loyalty and dedication to duty. I will, however, enjoin you not to relent in your efforts but rather to see this elevation as a call to higher responsibilities, re-dedication and loyalty to the service and to the nation.”
