Buratai to troops: We are at a critical stage but there is no going back

Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, has urged his men to devote their best to the ongoing fight against insurgency, saying the fight has reached a critical stage and there is no going back.

Addressing troops who are undergoing training at the Nigerian Army Special Forces Training School at Buni Yadi, Yobe state, Buratai said it is the desire of President Muhammadu Buhari that the military restores full peace to the north-east.

He charged the troops to sustain the momentum of ongoing counter insurgency operations to flush out the insurgents.

“Operation Lafia Dole’ has entered a critical stage. You must sustain the momentum; there is no going back,” he said

“There is no time to waste. We want full restoration of peace in the north-east. That is what the president wants.”

Buratai later told reporters that he was in Buni Yadi to see how the troops undergoing the special forces training were faring.

He explained that the exercise was to make the personnel resilient and be able to withstand challenges they might face in the course of the ongoing operations.

Buratai also explained that the school was relocated from Niger state to Buni Yadi in view of the strategic location of the town in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents.

“We know the importance of this place – Buni Yadi. This is the route they (insurgents) passed through to other parts of the north-east and even Plateau in the north-central,” he said.

“It is better for us to have dominated and taken over the place.”

Buni Yadi is the headquarters of the 27 task force brigade of the Nigerian army.