Boko Haram violence will end by April, says new Defence chief

 

Newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Alexander Sabundu Badeh has assured Nigerians and the world that the boko haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country will be a thing of the past come April.

Badeh made the declaration today, Monday shortly after he took the baton from Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim as CDS.

Said he: “The security situation in the north east must be brought to a complete

stop before April 2014. Substantial progress has been recorded in the war against the insurgents.

“We must bring it (insurgency) to a stop before April so that we will not have constitutional problems on our hands”.

It was a flurry of activities yesterday as new Service Chiefs took over from their predecessors in colourful ceremonies that ushered in the new helmsmen.

Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim handed over to Air Marshal Alex Badeh who was elevated from Chief of the Air Staff to the Chief of Defence Staff.

Earlier, Badeh had handed over to Air Vice Admiral Adesola Amosu as the new Chief of the Air Staff.

Erstwhile Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika handed over to Major General Kenneth Minimah who becomes the new Chief of Army Staff.

Ihejirika, had, in the course of the exercise dismissed media reports that over 30 senior officers were forced into retirement to pave the way for Minimah.

According to him, there were only five officers who were senior to Minimah and that most of them had submitted their retirement letters to him since last week.

He said: “I also want to remark that some papers published recently that 31 Army Generals might be leaving because of their relative seniority to the

new Army Chief.

“It is a fact that only five officers ranked higher in seniority than the new Army Chief up to the time he was appointed. And I want to inform you that most of these officers; the five I am talking about have submitted their letters of voluntary retirement to me because they feel they should retire at this point in time to make the work of the Army Chief very easy”.

At the Navy, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin took over from Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba as new Chief of Naval Staff.

All the retiring Service Chiefs expressed gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan for giving them the opportunity to serve in various capacities.

They enjoined serving officers and men to give the new Service Chiefs their unflinching support and loyalty to the nation.