Nigerians can’t continue to live in fear, says CDS

President Buhari has decorated the new service chiefs with their new ranks with a charge for them to use the next few weeks to control the rising insecurity in parts of the country.

He performed the ceremony inside the council chamber of the presidential villa, Abuja on Friday.

The service chiefs and their new ranks are General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defense Staff (CDS); Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff.

Speaking to corespondents after the ceremony, the Chief od Defence Staff, General Irabor, affirmed that Nigerians cannot continue to live in fear.

Asked what is the next step for the military, he said: “I’m glad you talk about the next big step. Nigerians expect us to bring about peace and security in concert with other security agencies. That we will do. We can’t live in fear. And we will ensure that whatever brings fear to Nigerians before now will be a thing of the past.”

While noting that he would not disclose what he called “the trump card” going forward, Irabor said he would not give orders to military that he himself would not obey.

“I will rather say what we will not do. What we will not do is to give instructions to our subordinates and not do the same. By extension, we will command the troops based on the expectations that we have of them and they will do it according to the expectations that we have of them too.”

He added: “Strategies are not sancrosant. Of course, there are dynamics that we need to begin to look at, what needs to be reviewed, and that is precisely what we are doing currently. And we review various strategies and of course come up with new ones to be able to meet the demands of the current realities.”

When asked about the role the Nigerian military played in the recent negotiations that led to the release of the school children from their abductors, General Irabor said: “Peace and security is not just the security of the borders alone. It comes with having to build bridges across various divides.

“We as members of the Armed Forces will never in any way demand peace and security of our nation in the hands of the terrorists. Rather, it is we that will determine the peace and not for us to live it in the hands of the terrorists.”

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