The Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Christopher Musa, has said that officers and men of the Command are working to restore lasting peace to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and other troubled parts of the North East.
He said his men, in recent times, have provided the avenue for Borno farmers to return to their farms, for business activities to thrive and for schools that were shut to be reopened.
General Musa, who assumed office as Theatre Commander on June 18, disclosed this in a live interview with a military radio station in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
In the Live Radio broadcast, which was monitored, reportedly, by Abuja CityJournal, General Musa said: “…Operation Hadin Kai, you know it was initially Lafiya Dole, but now Hadin Kai, this is to show you we want the synergy, both the civil populace, the military, paramilitary, all joining hands together to make sure that it was a success, I think that is one.
“And secondly, the operation is going on smoothly as we can see that Maiduguri is getting more vibrant and more activities are coming-in and now that there is the rainy season we are encouraging people to go back to their farms, because once we don’t have food, food will be scarce and we already know the level of poverty and they say, “a hungry man is an angry man”, and we don’t want people to be angry, because when they are angry, they can do anything when they are hungry.
“So, we are providing that avenue for people to go back to their farms, markets to thrive and schools to resume, the University of Maiduguri I think resumed yesterday and this is to show people that the confidence is gradually coming back. It is not yet a who, but we are working towards it and we will continue to put in our best to ensure that we provide that atmosphere for everybody to go about his lawful business.”
The Theatre Commander also explained why the number of checkpoints has also reduced in Maiduguri town.
He further said: “So, you see like you said, initially the number of checkpoints between here and Damaturu, gradually we are easing them and even within the town before there used to be checkpoints almost everywhere but you can see that has eased up gradually. The remaining ones is just a matter of time, so as we progress we will reduce this, even our presence with time you will find out that you will not see more of us, the civil authority like the police, immigration, customs those are the ones that will continue to operate and once we do that until we get to that level you will still see us gradually.”
According to him, there is now a complete synergy between the Army, Air Force, Navy and the Police, which is yielding success.
