Let’s end this war, Abubakar tells Boko Haram

Sadique Abubakar, chief of air staff, on Saturday warned the Boko Haram insurgents to surrender so that the ongoing “war” in the northeast can be ended, or face the full force of the nation’s military capability.

Abubakar gave the warning while addressing reporters at the end of 2015 annual 10-kilometer walk/jog exercise organised by the administrative branch of the air force, in Abuja.

“My message to the insurgents is simple; it is either they give up their insurgency or they are going to face the force,” he said.

“We are putting together everything in place and we hope that they will keep to this advice and surrender their arms.

They can come up so that we can bring this operation to an end, if not, the consequences will be terribly unbearable.”

He said the air force was working closely with all the forces to achieve the deadline to end insurgency in the north-east.

“The deadline has been set and we are going to achieve that deadline,” he said.

“It is not only an air force war; it is a war that is jointly fought by all the forces. Our responsibility is to make it easy for the surface forces to move around to conduct their operation without any hindrance and that is exactly what we have been doing.

“It is a very coordinated operation between the air elements and the land elements and that is why we are beginning to see the result of that coordination.”

Sadique said that the significance of the exercise was to keep the minds and body of officers and men fit and ready to combat insurgency.

“In trying times such as now, you need not only a sound mind but you also need a very sound body,” he said.

“Certainly, somebody that has weak body is not likely to do well in the battle, so it is an opportunity for us to remind ourselves that we have very trying times.

“We have challenges and responsibilities as members of the Nigerian air force and you cannot do that with only a sound mind, you need a sound body as well.

“We are likely going to introduce additional exercise that will keep our men in good shape so that they are able to discharge their constitutional responsibilities without any difficulties.”