Bad weather ‘impeding’ war against Boko Haram

Abayomi Olonishakin, the chief of defence staff, on Monday led other service chiefs to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, to update him on developments relating to the war against insurgency.

Speaking with state house correspondents at the end of the meeting, Olonisakin ‎said it was held to review the constraints and successes of the operation, ahead of the president’s December deadline for exterminating the sect.

He said they told the president how the current weather conditions in parts of the country and some logistics issues had been hampering the operations, after which the president granted their requests for further support.

“We briefed the president on the security situation on ground after a 60-day review and we had to brief him on the challenges to ensure that the mandate we have is properly delivered,” he said.

“Of course, the challenges we are looking at are the issues of probably the weather as it were and some other logistics that we feel we should have so that the mandate can be quickly delivered.”‎

Asked if an extension to the December deadline to end insurgency was discussed, he said: “We have not said that. The mandate is that we should clear Boko Haram from the occupied territories and ensure that we reclaim all the lost grounds. That is exactly what we are doing.

“It is a military operation and military operations have timelines and these timelines, we are working on them assiduously.”

Aliyu Ismaila, permanent secretary at the ministry of defence, said Buhari was happy with the progress report and remained optimistic that the war against insurgency was on track.

“We are here to brief the president on the situation of what armed forces have been doing in the north-east and the south-south. That is exactly what we discussed with Mr. President.

“The directive that we should continue what we have been doing; and in the next few days, there will be another meeting. But by and large, the president is excited and confident that the leadership of the Nigerian armed forces will do us proud.”