Goodluck pays surprise visit to troops in Maiduguri recovering from Boko Haram injuries PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan paid a surprise visit to Nigerian soldiers recovering from injuries they suffered in battles with Boko Haram yesterday when he flew into Maiduguri the Borno State capital unannounced.Flying into the city from Abuja immediatelyafter laying a wreath at the National Arcade, in commemoration of Armed Forces Remembrance Day, President Jonathan was received by the Borno State governor Kashim Shettima. He then visitedtroops at the Seventh Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri and did a tour of the barracks hospital andmedical services centre.Local people have been clamouring for President Jonathan to visit Borno State since April 14 when over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok. Critics also chided the president for continuing his presidential campaign without visiting or making a direct comment over the recent January 3 killings in Baga and Doron Baga in Borno State.Yesterday, however, President Jonathan paid an unannounced visit to the beleaguered state, just a week ahead of his Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) presidential rally scheduled to hold in Maiduguri on January 24. While at the Seventh Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army at the Maimalari Cantonment, President Jonathan thanked the soldiers for their patriotic services to the nation.He assured them that the nation would soon see the back of the Boko Haram insurgents as the military were now better equipped to take them on. According to President Jonathan, the briefing he had just received from the service chiefs indicated that the 10 local governments in the state under Boko Haram control would soon be recaptured.President Jonathan added: “Let me assureyou that we will soon take over all the areas. From the briefing I have received from the service chiefs, I assure you that we will take over the towns and communities.“In terms of equipment and logistics, we have already made considerable progress since the insurgency started and we will continue to improve in that regard until your operations are successfully concluded. Terrorism and insurgency havebeen very traumatic for all of us and I feel particularly disturbed when I hear of our people being displaced within their own country.Before leaving Maiduguri, President Jonathan also visited over 900 displaced persons from Baga at a Maiduguri camp. He sympathised with them over their losses and promised that the federal government would strive to make their stay in the camps more comfortable while it continues to do all within its powers to restore peace and security to enable them to return to their homes soon.“I assure you and other displaced persons that government is working very hard to ensure that you do not remain in these camps for too long. I know that many of your houses have been destroyed so we will assist you financially so that you can rebuild your homes and return to them gradually,” President Jonathan added.He also thanked the Red Cross and other international organisations for assisting in the provision of relief materials to the displaced persons. He charged local, stateand federal government officials to work inunity in rendering support to the displacedpersons.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 06:49:32 +0000
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