Military took back captured territories from Boko Haram under me, says Olonisakin

The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin (Rtd) on Friday said that the Defence headquarters has made some modest achievements aimed at improving operational capacity, logistics, and welfare needs of officers and men serving in the Defence Headquarters.

He also noted that the armed forces reclaimed all the territories occupied by the Boko Haram sect under his watch.

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Olonisakin, who spoke at Defence Headquarters in Abuja while handing over the mantle of leadership to his successor, Maj-Gen. Lucky Irabor, said in terms of organisation, some directorates of the DHQ were upgraded to departments to make them more impactful.

According to him, the department included the former Directorate of Civil-Military Affairs, which had been upgraded to a department to scale up the non-kinetic operation.

“We all could recall that at the inception of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Boko Haram terrorist group held sway in parts of North-East Nigeria, where the sect occupied 20 out of 26 Local Government Areas in Borno State.

“Our immediate challenge on the assumption of office was to flush out Boko Haram and restore Nigeria’s sovereignty over these occupied territories. Gratefully, with the support of the political leadership and indeed all Nigerians, the Armed Forces of Nigeria, under my leadership, was able to reclaim all territories that were then under the control of the Boko Haram,” the former CDS said.

The retired general admitted that the insurgency remained a security issue, saying the Armed Forces was equally engaged in assisting the government in addressing other security issues, in line with their constitutional roles.

He said the various initiatives and collaborations led to the local production of some of our defence needs including meals-ready-to-eat, airboats, the prototype of an Improvised Explosive Devices detector with extended range, and local production of handheld radios in collaboration with Satcom of Namibia.

The former CDS praised the choice of his successor, noting that he is familiar with the security challenges having previously served as Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Commander Multinational Joint Task Force and above all, the immediate past Chief of Training and Operations at the Defence Headquarters.

“There couldn’t have been a better choice of a seasoned senior officer who will hit the ground running as the Chief of Defence Staff,” he stated.