BEVERLY HILLS, June 22 (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the military to dismantle all military checkpoints on Nigerian roads in areas that are secure and unlikely to witness acts of terrorism.
The checkpoints were created because of the unending attacks of the Boko Haram. Soldiers conduct stop and search operations at the security posts.
Disclosing the development to state house correspondents after a security meeting between the President and service chiefs at the Presidential Villa, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mr. Aliyu Ismaila, said Buhari ordered “the Chief of Defence Staff to get the Chief of Army Staff and Inspector-General of Police to remove all the military men along the roads across the country.”
A follow up press statement by Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman further said the withdrawal of the soldiers from the military checkpoints as ordered by the President in relatively secure parts of the country would allow the military concentrate more on ending the Boko Haram insurgency.
“Speaking at a meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Defence, the Chief Of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs and Heads of National Security Agencies, President Buhari said, however, that military check-points could be retained in areas outside the North-Eastern states where the military considered them absolutely essential for the maintenance of national security.
“Reaffirming his administration’s total commitment to ending the Boko Haram insurgency in the shortest possible time, the President welcomed the progress report he was given on the implementation of his order that the Military Command Control Centre be relocated to Maiduguri.
“President Buhari who, in keeping with the declared priorities of his government, made the meeting with defence and security chiefs the top item on his schedule on his first day at work in the Presidential Villa, also expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far in the implementation of the decision of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to fast-track the deployment of the Multinational Joint Task Force based in Ndjamena.
“The defence and security chiefs who met with the President and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for over three and half hours, also briefed them on the refurbishment of existing military platforms and the acquisition of new weapons for the Armed Forces,” the statement said.
