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Soldiers at a checkpoint
on Oba Adesida Road, Akure Photo:
Stanley Ogidi
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President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday ordered the removal of
military checkpoints set up in the wake of Boko Haram activities in parts of
the country.
The order was given a few
hours after twin bomb blasts rocked Maiduguri, Borno State on Monday. Thirteen
people lost their lives and many others were injured in the incident.
The Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Defence, Aliyu Ismaila, told State House correspondents that Buhari
ordered the removal of the checkpoints during his meeting with service chiefs
at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Punch report continues:
“The President has
instructed the Chief of Defence Staff to get the Chief of Army Staff and
Inspector-General of Police to remove all the military men along the roads
across the country,” he said.
It will be recalled that
motorists in places where the checkpoints exist have been facing a harrowing
experience because of gridlocks caused by them (checkpoints).
One of the worst hit is
the Abuja-Keffi highway and some other roads in the Federal Capital Territory.
Ismaila added that Buhari
challenged the security chiefs to do more in the war against
insurgency because of the leadership he was providing as a retired military
officer.
But the
Presidency later issued a statement in which it explained that the order for
the removal of the checkpoints affected only secure parts of the
country.
The statement
by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying that the soldiers
must concentrate more on ending insurgency in the country.
According to the
statement, the checkpoints shall be retained in areas
outside the North-Eastern states where the military considered them absolutely
essential for the maintenance of national security.
It read , “Reaffirming
his administration’s total commitment to ending the Boko Haram insurgency in
the shortest possible time, the President welcomed the progress report he was
given on the implementation of his order that the Military Command Control
Centre be relocated to Maiduguri.
“President Buhari who, in
keeping with the declared priorities of his government, made the meeting with
defence and security chiefs the top item on his schedule on his first day at
work in the Presidential Villa, also expressed satisfaction at the progress
made so far in the implementation of the decision of the Lake Chad Basin
Commission to fast-track the deployment of the Multinational Joint Task Force
based in Ndjamena.
“The defence and security
chiefs who met with the President and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo for over
three-and-half hours, also briefed them on the refurbishment of existing
military platforms and the acquisition of new weapons for the Armed Forces.”
Ismaila also told the
State House correspondents that the service chiefs left the meeting
happier because the President updated and enriched their strategic plans.
The Permanent Secretary
explained that the meeting also discussed the movement of the Army command
centre to the North-East.
He said the security
chiefs, after briefing the President on how far they had gone in the anti-Boko
Haram war, were given additional assignments.
Ismaila
assured Nigerians that “with what we have come out with from this meeting, we
are very enthusiastic that the issue of Boko Haram will soon be over.”
He said he was sure there
would be a difference in the insurgency war with the common front that has been
formed by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger.
“We have all strategized
and we are coming out with one type of strategy that we are going to address
the Boko Haram with, unlike before,” he added.
The Permanent Secretary
said the issue of sacking of service chiefs did not come up during the meeting.
On the absence of heads
of some security agencies at the meeting, Ismaila said, “This is not a national
security meeting; this is a briefing meeting by the Ministry of Defence on the operationalization
of the Multi-National Joint Task Force and the relocation of the command
control centre to the North -East, so it is something restricted to the
Ministry of Defence.”
Meanwhile, two suicide
female bombers wreaked havoc on the popular
Fish Market on Baga Road at about 3.45pm.
A member of the youth
vigilante group, Modu Ibrahim, told one of our correspondents that
“the suicide bombers found their way into the market during the second
afternoon prayer when most people were in groups to pray.”
“They detonated the bombs
tied to their bodies few meters apart,” he added.
According to Ibrahim,
“apart from the two suicide bombers, 11 other persons were blown apart and 10
others severely injured.”
A resident of the
troubled city, Jack Vince, said that the injured were taken to the
state’s Specialist Hospital.
“One of the female
suicide bombers detonated an Improvised Explosive Device strapped
to her body, killing herself in the process. Also, a lady was said to have been
apprehended earlier with what was suspected to be IED in her possession,” he
added.
The market had
in the past been attacked by insurgents.
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