We need public support to defeat Boko Haram - Army

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said that the military needs the trust and support of Nigerians in the fight against terrorism.

Buratai, who was represented by the Commander of Training and Doctrine of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Bola Koleoso, said this at the maiden edition of the Public Interest Symposium series organised by the Island Club at Onikan, Lagos.

The symposium, titled, “Nigeria’s War on Terror: How to fight and win,” also included a lecture by the former Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Adewumi Ajibade (retd.).

Buratai said that Nigerians should learn to trust the seriousness, professionalism and the patriotism of the military in the fight against insurgency.

He said, “I don’t think we have ever failed you. We never failed you in Yugoslavia, in Somalia, in Sierra Leone, in Liberia, and we are not failing you in Sudan.

“Why would it be the military carrying the political ill-will of leadership? If you give the wherewithal for us to fight, if you motivate us to fight, and you give us the right leadership to fight, the Nigerian military is the best in the world.”

Koleoso said that since Buratai became Chief of Army Staff, soldiers who, before, were not willing to go to the North-East to fight were now begging for posting to the battlefront because of good leadership.

He also said that the current military leaders were patriotic and determined to make sure that the presidential order to root out Boko Haram insurgents in three months was achieved.

“All we want is that you support the people you pay with your taxes,” he said.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, who represented the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, at the symposium, said, “The scourge of terrorism in Nigeria has gone beyond religious or social inclinations. These perpetrators live with and among us. We should all join hands with the government to wage a war against the terrorists in our midst.”