From Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, has again relocated to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, alongside his Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) in his bid to end the resurgence of attacks by the Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal groups ravaging the peace in the north-east state.
Oluyede, had been in the North East in the last two weeks on the orders of President Bola Tinubu, following the resurgence of terrorist attacks on troops’ locations and several villages that have been hitherto liberated by the military.
He, however, returned to Abuja for a few days to attend the meeting of President Tinubu with service chiefs and take care of some other official matters before returning to Maiduguri.
Gen. Oluyede, who left Abuja yesterday, is in the Borno State capital alongside his PSOs, General Officers Commanding (GOCs), commanders of various army operations, commandants of army training and tri-service institutions among other top officers for the Chief of Army Staff quarterly conference holding in the state.
The decision to move the COAS quarterly conference closer to the terrorists, it was gathered, was a last-minute decision by the army to brainstorm on the terrorists menace.
While in the state, the COAS, will personally monitor the activities of OPERATION HADIN KAI, the special operations set up to wipe out terrorism, visit all army operations/troops locations in the North East to get first hand information on the successes and problems faced by troops.
Before President Tinubu’s directives to service chiefs to end insecurity in the country, the army chief had in April, carried out a major redeployment affecting over 11,000 officers.
The redeployment, it was gathered, was to change the phase of the fight against terrorism and other security challenges as new commanders were appointed to head the various army operations across the country.
The redeployment also affected army training institutions where new commandants were appointed. Also appointed were new General Officers Commanding, among others.
The COAS, quarterly conference which is a week-long event, would offer the army hierarchy an in-depth insight to take far reaching decisions that would help the army to achieve its set objective of addressing the multifaceted security challenges in the country.
The conference would also create an opportunity for the COAS to have a face-to- face interaction with all the General Officers Commanding, field commanders and other senior officers to provide possible guidance on enhancing Nigerian Army activities and operations.
Furthermore, the conference would review previous decisions taken while a series of briefs and other updates on various activities would be presented and deliberated upon.