Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, and the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun, visited the center at 2:30 pm on Tuesday. The two chiefs went to their respective areas of command to make assessments of their relocation.
The Nigerian Army and Air Force Chiefs visited Military Center of Command in Maiduguri , the capital of Borno State, yesterday. The visit was in compliance with President Buhari’s request.
Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, and the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun, visited the center at 2:30 pm on Tuesday. The two chiefs went to their respective areas of command to make assessments of their relocation.
The two Chiefs spoke to the media before jetting out of the northeastern city that has been plagued by fighting.
Mr. Minima told journalists, that “with the arrival of the advanced party of the MCCC to Maiduguri days earlier to carry out reconnaissance of the existing structure, “it is very clear that the movement has started.”
“The presence of the Chief of Air Staff and mine, which is the very hierarchy of the Air Force and Army here today does not mean that we are taking the battle from the General Officer Commanding, who is here,” he said. “He still commands the operation as the GOC; we will be here to add further impetus to the operation.”
He said that the relocation will expedite the process of stopping Boko Haram.
“This is war, and in war, sometimes it is not mathematics; one will do all the preparations and it does not come out as planned,” he said. “We may say we will capture an area in two weeks and it would turn out that even in a month we may not have achieved that. But we are highly optimistic that this time, with this new drive, we will conclusively bring this insurgency to an end.”
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Amosun, had informed reporters at the 79th Composite Group Command, Maiduguri, about what the relocation of the MCCC was all about.
“The essence of moving the MCCC to Maiduguri is essentially to ease the processes of discharging authority and giving direction and the apparatus that goes along with it,” he said.
“So this is what command and control is all about. In the armed forces generally, we operate on the concept of centralized control, and the executive of this centralized command is often domiciled where the operation is taking place. We are just coming in to ensure that the time that will be lost is closed up; and that is why we are now here.”
In addition he said along with the transfer to Maiduguri, “there would be some drastic changes especially in the areas of speedy response of administrative demands incidental to the counter insurgency operation.”
Mr. Amosun added that with the spirited commitments of President Buhari, the war against Boko Haram will end soon.