The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Kenneth Minimah, has assured that
government would put an end to terrorism in Nigeria and canvassed collective
support for the military in the fight.
Minimah said this on Sunday, at the inter-denominational church service
held at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church, Mogadishu Cantonment,
Abuja.
The service, which was to mark the 2014 Nigerian Army Day Celebration
(NADCEL), had the “Combating Current National Security Challenges through
Collective Effort”.
“We are going through troubled times but they will soon come to an end
and we shall be glad at the end.
“I promise you it will come to an end and we will be victorious.
“The war against terrorism is a collective effort of all Nigerians
and I appeal to all Nigerians to join hands in fighting this new war of
terrorism.
“I want to thank Nigerians for standing by us, for their perseverance.
“I also appeal to them that terrorism is a new warfare. It requires time
and patience for us to defeat it.
“I am very much optimistic that we will deliver. We will win the war.
“What we have in the North-East will certainly come to an end soon.
“Our job is to continue to protect and preserve the unity of this
country and making it stable for prosperity.
“Our job is also to uphold our constitutional role, which is to defend
the country’s territorial integrity from insurgency and external aggression,
and provide aid to civil authority. That, we will continue to do,” the Army
chief said.
Using the Niger-Delta area, and Abia and Benue as instances, Minimah
said peace had returned to these places and everywhere there were peaceful.
He said the army would prevail over insurgents as it used to be in the
past, saying they would win the war against terrorism.
Minimah said the army was acquiring new equipment, training its
personnel and providing welfare for the troops, all in a bid to end terrorism.
He, however, said the army decided to have a low-key celebration for
NADCEL 2014, because of the current security challenges facing the country.
“A man does not celebrate his birthday if he is bereaved. He has to just
mark his birthday.
“I want to salute the gallantry of our troops, who have paid the supreme
price in the course of defending their fatherland.
“These officers and soldiers had died in their duty posts and we will
not forget them.”
In his sermon, Reverend Dawuk Danfulani, the Director, Army Chaplain
(Protestant), said Nigerians must unite to faithfully seek God’s support if
they were to end terrorism.
Danfulani urged all Nigerians to collectively condemn and expose evil
deeds in the society, even if the person perpetrating it was a close relation.
“If a person is pulling down the system that is supposed to stand, you
have the right to expose him or her.
“If we condemn collectively and expose evil-doers, they will be afraid
to do evil.”
Taking his text from the second book of Corinthians, chapter 2, verse
11, Danfulani said Nigerians should not be ignorant as children of God.
“So, we should unite and fight these perpetrators of evil.
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