The Defence Headquarters yesterday reacted to suggestions by the Senate that the Chief of Army Staff should relocate to the North-East to properly coordinate activities of the joint services tackling Boko Haram insurgency in the region.
Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, in a telephone interview said that the Senate resolution cannot become binding on the military unless President Goodluck Jonathan endorses it.
Besides, he said, the military has no plans at the moment and has never discussed the possibility of relocating its key personnel to the region since the situation has not really called for such an action when the officers and men at the frontline are doing just fine.
Major General Olukolade said: “Only the President of the Federal Republic, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces can make or give such a directive to the military, and not the Senate.”
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters in Abuja yesterday said that the military had embarked on specialised operations to flush out the Boko Haram insurgents from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, made the disclosure when he briefed newsmen on the security situation in the three states under state of emergency.
Olukolade said the new approach marked another phase in the operations, which were designed to further curtail the terrorists’ activities.
He said: “The specialised campaign, which has commenced, is being undertaken simultaneously in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.
“The operation is also in furtherance of efforts at apprehending the terrorists and ensuring that they do not escape out of Nigeria as they are now desperate to do.”
Olukolade said the seeming resurgent activities of the insurgents were at best a reaction to the renewed offensive against it.
He said: “In desperation for money and food, they looted and burnt banks, shops and filling stations along their way through Michika as they headed for the Cameroon border.
“Six of their fighters were killed, two captured while nine of their vehicles were destroyed; one soldier and three civilians also died in the encounter.
“It is believed that those involved in this latest attacks are elements that perpetrated the mayhem against students of the Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi, Yobe, and other places.
“They have been holed up and are still engaged in suicidal fighting apparently with a view to attaining martyrdom status, as troops close in on the die-hard ones among them,” he said.
He called on the citizens of the affected areas, particularly border towns, to assist security forces by reporting any movement of the group in their locality, noting that this would enhance military operations and assist in apprehending or eliminating the terrorists.
Olukolade said: “DHQ acknowledges, with grave concern, the recent mindless killings of innocent school children and other citizens in towns and villages following terrorist activities in some parts of the North-East.
“The dastardly act has expectedly attracted the reaction of well-meaning individuals who have been condemning the senseless bloodletting”, he said.