Boko Haram: Senate directs Army Chief to relocate to Maiduguri

The Nigerian Senate Committee on Defence and Army has directed the Chief of Army Staff to relocate his office temporarily to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in an attempt to heighten the fight against insurgents in the north east.

Alarmed by the killing of students at the Federal Government College in Yobe State on Tuesday, the Senate directed the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah, to provide special security for all schools and health institutions in the crises prone states in the North.

The committee gave the directive when Major General Minimah came to defend the budget of the Nigerian Army.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Thompson Sekibo, urged the Nigerian Army to re-strategize on new ways to curb the incessant killing of Nigerians in the north east.

In his response, Major General Minimah assured the committee that the Army was up to the task of ending insurgency in the country.

The attack on the Federal Government College left at least 29 students dead.

The Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, had last week called for improved efforts in the fight against the insurgent group, Boko Haram, pointing out that “the group is better motivated than the Nigerian Armed Forces.

The Nigerian president, in a media chat on Monday, condemned the comment, describing it as unfortunate.

A security consultant, Capt Umar Aliyu (Rtd), had said that the Nigerian Army was capable of ending the insurgency but also pointed out that lack of needed political will, on the part of the leaders, to end the insurgency was hindering the activities of the military.

He said that the military was losing the ground it had gained in Borno State because political leaders had not given it the needed marching order to wipe out insurgency.