Two days after Boko Haram ambushed oil workers killing at least 27 people, the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has asked military chiefs to move to Borno State.
Mr. Osinbajo met with military chiefs on Thursday, few hours after the Minster of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, told journalists that the government would suspend oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin after oil workers on the exploration team and their security details were killed by Boko Haram.
NAN reported the kidnap and death of the oil workers and their security details, with lecturers at the University of Maiduguri saying on Thursday that five staff of the university were among the dead while four others are still missing.
After the meeting with the military chiefs on Thursday, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali said the Service Chiefs are to move back to command centre of the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgency with a view to consolidating the gains being recorded in the battle fields.
Mr. Dan-Ali, made this known while answering questions from State House correspondents after the closed-door meeting with Mr. Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the meeting was also attended by General Gabriel Olonisakin, the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS; Lt. General Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff; Vice Admiral Ekwe Ite-Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air Vice Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, the Chief of Air Staff CAS.
According to the minister, the meeting agreed to get more surveillance devices, cameras and other vital security gadgets that will be able to see distant attackers coming to the position of the Nigerian troops.
“We just finished a meeting with the Acting President and the three Service Chiefs.
“We agreed that they should move back to the Command Centre again and see what are the things happening there.
“We have also agreed that we should get more surveillance devices, cameras that will be able to see distant attackers coming to the position of our troops.
“The period of the raining season is a difficult moment for us.
“We cannot dominate the environment like what we do during the dry season but effort is geared towards regaining back our areas,’’ he added.
Mr. Dan-Ali reassured that “all these ambushes that are happening regularly would be stopped.’’