President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday told the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Service Chiefs that they only have a few weeks to secure the country just as the CDS, General Lucky Irabor declared that the Nigerian military will never demand peace and security of the country from “the terrorists.”
President Buhari said he expected that before the rainy season, the Nigerian military would have secured the country to the level that farmers who had fled their farms in different parts of Nigeria would have developed enough confidence to return to their farms.
Buhari spoke shortly after decorating the new service chiefs with their new ranks at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, directing them to identify competent officers and deploy them appropriately to achieve the target.
According to the President, “during our four-hour security meeting, I have taken the responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief for you to go out into the field and secure the country. I have accepted responsibility for your action on the field. It is up to you to identify your competent officers irrespective of seniority and paper qualification and deploy them to make sure that we secure this country.
“You have got a few weeks to do that because, by the rainy season, we expect people to develop confidence and go back to the land so that we don’t get into trouble by being away from the field and therefore unable to produce enough food for the nation.”
Meanwhile, General Irabor told journalists after the decoration ceremony that there would be improved synergy among security agencies to guarantee peace in the country, assuring that the Armed Forces would work to achieve the target set by President Buhari.
Irabor, while reacting to a question that sought to know the role played by the Nigerian military in the recent negotiations that led to the release of the school children from their abductors, said: “Peace and security is not just the security of the borders alone. It comes with having to build bridges across various divides.
“We as members of the Armed Forces will never in any way demands peace and security of our nation in the hands of the terrorists. Rather it is we that will determine the peace and not for us to live it in the hands of the terrorists.”
On what to look out for in few weeks as directed by the President and the expectations of Nigerians in 100 days, he said: “That is a matching order that Mr President has given to us and we will work assiduosly to achieve that.
“No doubt, next 100 days is not as important as today. I believe that as members of the Armed Forces working in concert with the rest of the security agencies, we will bring Mr President’s expectations to bear in terms of our task. But let me also let you know that the inevitable is that Nigerians will indeed experience peace and security across the land.”
Irabor, while speaking on the next big step and whether there would be a change of strategies, said: “I’m glad you talk about the next big step. Nigerians expect us to bring about peace and security in concert with other security agencies, that we will do. We can’t live in fear. And we will ensure that whatever brings fear to Nigerians before now will be a thing of the past.
“Strategies are not sacrosanct. Of course, there are dynamics that we need to begin to look at, what needs to be reviewed, and that is precisely what we are doing currently. And we review various strategies and of course come up with new ones to be able to meet the demands of the current realities.”
He refused to speak on what he called the”trump card” to achieve the target set.
On what he would be doing differently from his predecessors, Irabor said: “I will rather say what we will not do. What we will not do is to give instructions to our subordinates and not do the same. By extension, we will command the troops based on the expectations that we have of them and they will do it according to the expectations that we have of them too.”
