All the gallant soldiers who liberated Baga will be promoted – Army chief

by Ranti Joseph

kenneth Minima

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minima, on Wednesday said that elections could be held in territories recovered from the Boko Haram insurgents.

He said he was impressed with the feat achieved by the soldiers and pledged that more Nigerian territory still being controlled by the insurgents will be retaken.

Minima said successes recorded by the troops in dislodging the insurgents from some territories may enable the displaced persons to return back to their homes before the general elections which are scheduled to hold on March 28 and April 11.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, most of them within Nigeria, since the insurgency began in 2009. The electoral commission, INEC, had earlier said it could only hold elections in safe areas including legally recognised camps for displaced persons.

The army chief told journalists that his visit was to boost soldiers’ morale. “My visit there is on confidence building and to inform the troops that the entire Nigerians are singing their praises for their courage and urge them to keep up the tempo. They have made Nigerians proud. From today it is never again for insurgents to take hold of any of our territory. I told them that today it is going to be victory all the way because the war is almost ended. From here we move to retake Gwoza, Marte, and Madagali. With this, there is going to be no more Boko Haram; the slogan is ‘never again’ and even the President shares in this slogan,” he said.

“In the army’s usual a way of commending soldiers’ courage and patriotism, I have announced to them that every soldier that participated in the Baga operation, whether dead or alive, has been promoted to the next rank,” the army chief added.

Minima said he is very confident that within the six weeks frame given to flush out Boko Haram, it is possible for all the displaced residents to return home and even cast their votes. “It is achievable to end the Boko Haram activities very soon because we are still within the six weeks framework,” he said. But we should not see the six weeks as a must-accomplish time; this is war and we will try and do whatever possible to liberate more areas so that displaced citizens can go and resettle and possibly vote during the elections,” he said.

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