I Will Finish Boko Haram By April 2014..New Defence Chief

The new Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, has given an assurance that the military will bring the Boko Haram insurgency in the country to an end before April this year.

He said that it was mandatory for the military to eliminate the Boko Haram insurgency in the next three months in order to prevent a constitutional problem in the polity.

Badeh said that he was optimistic that the war against terrorism was already won.

Badeh gave the assurance while taking over as the new Chief of Defence Staff from his predecessor, Admiral Ola Ibrahim at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja on Monday.

He said that it was not the plan of the current Defence chiefs to go to the Senate to lobby for anything.

The CDS said that it was possible to bring the insurgency in the North East to an end if the military approached its security responsibilities cohesively.

He assured the new Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, who is expected to coordinate the fight against the insurgents, that it was possible for his work to be concluded in a short time.

He also gave the assurance that the other service chiefs, the Chief of Naval Staff, Air-Vice Marshal Adesola Amosun and Rear Admiral Usman Jubrin would give the requisite support to the Army chief in the prosecution of the campaign to end terrorism in the country.

He said, “The security situation in the North East must be brought to a complete stop before April 2014.

“We must bring it to a stop before April so that we will not have constitutional problems on our hands.

“We don’t want to go back to the Senate to start begging and lobbying. If we do our work cohesively, I can tell you Gen. Minimah, you will finish your work in no time.

“I can assure you (Minimah) that the Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff will give you all the support you need.

“I can say confidently that this war is already won.”

He added that the Nigerian Armed forces had recorded significant progress against the insurgents in the North East.

He added that the Armed Forces also recorded some successes outside the country in places like Mali and Guinea Bissau.

Badeh, who described his appointment as an opportunity to serve the country, promised to give his best to the task of coordinating the three services of the Armed Forces.

He said that it would be difficult to get the interest of stakeholders to the crisis if the operation lacked proper coordination.

He stressed that whenever, there was crisis, it involved the entire country and not just the Armed Forces.