The Nigerian Army on Tuesday appealed for support for the military in its drive to end Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, the Chief of Army Staff, made the appeal while speaking to newsmen in Maiduguri.
“The Nigerian Army is your army, you should support that army and the military in the current efforts to end insurgency.
“Every nation at war mobilizes the citizenry to support the military,” Minimah said.
He contended that Nigerians had not been very supportive of the military in recent times.
“We have not had that support in the past particularly from the media.
“But I know that since the military started turning things around, we have started gaining support from Nigerians, this should continue,” Minimah said.
He added that the citizens should be mobilized toBsupport the armed forces “because we are at war and in war, everything is possible.
“You can see what happened in countries in Middle East recently in spite of the huge resources and equipment their military has.
“I will appeal that we have much more support from Nigerians than we had in the last couple of weeks,”
he said.
Minimah added that an advance team from the Nigerian Army had already arrived in Maiduguri in line with the recent presidential order.
“Honestly, I think that in some way, the media have over interpreted the issue; I think that there is an existing command here in Maiduguri.
“I think that they trust more that there should be a superior pressure on the existing command in ensuring result as quick as possible, I think that is what we are doing,” he said.
Minimah said the presidential order was not something extraordinary. I think this is not about something extraordinary.
“The movement of very high ranking officers of the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Air Force tobMaiduguri has started,” he said.
Minimah expressed optimism that the insurgency will be brought to an end soon.
“The GOC will still be here, we will be here to add more impetus to the fight against insurgency.
“We are highly optimistic that this time, this drive will end this madness,” he said.
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