The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, has called on world military leaders to unite and pull their resources together to fight common global enemy, terrorism, which is now an albatross to the existence of humanity.
General Olonisakin made this call during meetings of Committee of World Chiefs of Defence Staff in Washington DC recently.
Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, in a statement in Abuja, on Tuesday, said General Olonisakin noted that terrorism did not only hinder development of nations, but was fast threatening the corporate existence of human race.
He cited the cruelty of the Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria, which he said, killed, maimed and destroyed property in unimaginable proportion as an example.
While condemning, in very strong terms, these inhumane treatment, the CDS lamented that the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups elsewhere, if not contained through the instrumentality of joint forces and information sharing, might snowball into catastrophic dimension.
General Olonisakin urged world military leaders to do everything possible to assist one another in the fight against terrorism, saying “terrorism, being an asymmetric warfare, require wider spectrum of cooperation with other nations, since insurgency and terrorism transverses beyond borders.”
While in the Washington DC, General Olonisakin used the opportunity to seek more enhanced bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation with the Chiefs of Defence Staff of USA, Britain and France.
The Committee of World Chiefs of Defence Staff endorsed the holding of regular meetings with the aim of reappraising issues that might require urgent attention and channelling of resources.
Meanwhile, ongoing investigation on suspected Boko Haram terrorists collaborators and saboteurs in the fight against terrorism and insurgency has led to the arrest of nine more persons over the last 24 hours.
This brings the number of Boko Haram collaborators and saboteurs so far arrested to 30. This comprises two officers, two soldiers, two policemen and 24 civilians.
Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel S.K. Usman, said many more suspects would be arrested and prosecuted based on evidences against them and the level of culpability.
In the past few months, there had been allegations that military men were aiding and abetting Boko Haram terrorists in the war against terrorists in the North-East.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, Colonel Usman said they had succeeded in defeating Boko Haram, but some unpatriotic soldiers and civilians were still aiding and abetting them so that the war would never end.
According to him, no matter how highly placed those involved in the sabotage and collaboration, they must be fished out and dealt with decisively, according to the law.
He said investigations were still on, and that more arrests would be made.