SOME service chiefs have relocated to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in line with the directive of the acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

The service chiefs led by Gabriel Olonisakin, a general and the chief of Defence Staff, arrived the air force base in Maiduguri at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 1 in company of Tukur Buratai, a lieutenant general and the chief of Army Staff as well as Sadique Abubakar, a air marshal and chief of the Air Staff. The service chief arrived in a heavy convoy of armed soldiers, which drove immediately to the headquarters of Military Command and Control Centre where the Theatre Commander would brief them.

The presence of the service chiefs was in compliance with the directive of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who last week, held a closed-door meeting with them at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja, over the worsening Boko Haram attacks in Borno State.

It was also decided that the military should get more surveillance devices and cameras that would be able to see distant attackers.

At the meeting were Mansur Dan-Ali, minister of Defence, Olonishakin, Buratai, Abubakar and Ibok Ekwe Ibas, chief of Naval Staff.

Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, Dan-Ali said: “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 and we assure that all these ambushes that are happening regularly would be stopped.”

— Aug 1, 2017 @ 14:10 GMT