President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday lamented the situation where the Nigerian military deteriorated from being a regional power house to one that now depends on foreign help in the current war against the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to Daily Independent, Buhari, who spoke at the Presidential Villa when he hosted the BringBackOurGirls campaigners (BBOG), who had visited him with a list of demands, retorted: “How are the mighty fallen.”
The President may have recalled the early 80s and 90s, when the Nigerian military took charge of prosecuting civil wars involving neighbouring countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone, under the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). This was in addition to fighting as part of the United Nations Peace Keeping force outside West Africa.
The BBOG campaigners who used the visit to mark the 450th day, since the abduction from Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram terrorists.
They urged, among others, that the President should apologise on behalf of government over the inability to prevent the abduction and rescue over the over 200 girls.
Led by former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, the BBOG delegation, also demanded that Buhari should visit the Chibok community within his first 100 days in office, besides providing for the welfare and rehabilitation of parents of the girls.
Responding, Buhari, who kept mum on the demand for apology, spoke in the presence of the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, service chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police, who were invited as part of the meeting.
According to him: “Strategy and tactics have been drawn; a multinational taskforce has been put in place more with headquarters in N’Djamena with a Nigerian General as Commander.
“And then the troops delegated by each of the countries are to be put in place by the end of the month. And Nigeria, I assure you, will do its best, because we as I said, are the battleground and we are being helped by our neigbours,” he added.
While commending the group for its resilience in the face of intimidation in its demand for release of the Chibok girls, the President appealed for patience, pledging that he would do his best to rescue the girls.
The group also asked the Federal Government to immediately set up a commission of inquiry into the abduction of the Chibok Girls.
But the leader of the Chibok community and Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Dauda Illiya, also demanded safe return of the girls, welfare, security, rehabilitation of infrastructure and a visit by Buhari to Chibok within his first 100 days in office.
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