By Musa Umar Bologi
Abuja
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has warned those bent on destabilising the country to refrain from their acts or face the full wrath of the law.
Buratai gave the warning yesterday after he received the “Millennium Hero” award conferred on him by a coalition of over 80 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.
The award was in recognition of the leadership he provided for the army in decimating, degrading and eventual sacking of the Boko Haram terrorists from their strong hold in the Sambisa Forest.
He vowed that the agitators and those with intent to destabilise the country would not succeed, as the Nigerian army and other security agencies were ready to protect the nation from disintegration.
“Those individuals and groups that are bent on distablising our country I think they have to wait till may be the next three, four millennium for them to do that.
“That’s if it may be the next generation of officers and men will allow them at all.
“Having been given the Millennium Hero award, I want to call on all the agitators for separation and other acts of distablisation, they better forget it, not in this era, not in this millennium”, he said.
He said the situation now signaled “the beginning of victory and continuous victory over all groups that are bent on destabilising the country, especially in terms of security.
“I want to say that we would continue to do our best to maintain security atmosphere that is needed as provided for in the constitution of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We have been tasked to defend our country,” he said.
According to him, we have taken a number of measures to ensure that the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists that on the run are finally cleared, many have surrendered, many of them have been captured.
Earlier in his address, Executive Director, African Media Round-table Initiative, Mr. Olabode Adeyemi, who presented the award on behalf of the CSOs, noted that Buratai changed the tide of the war against the terrorists.
He said: “The leadership of Buratai has now been generally viewed as one that came with the Midas touch and changed the tide of the war”.
