Army re-affirms loyalty to Buhari, scores self high

The Nigerian Army has reaffirmed its loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari and promised to remain apolitical in all its conducts.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, made the promise yesterday at the closing ceremony of the Chief of Staff annual conference held at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

He said the army would continue to uphold its core values of discipline, professionalism and responsiveness in order to reposition itself for better performance.

The Director of Army Policy and Plans, Major General Christopher Adewale Jemitola, who read the statement issued at the end of the programme said the army reviewed its performance in the outgoing year and concluded that it performed creditably well.

The statement said the army, through its various operations around the country, exemplified high level of professionalism which it will maintain while ensuring infrastructural development and better welfare for its officers.

‘’We have been able to collaborate with sister security organs in our quest for peace and unity in the country. Henceforth, our conducts too, shall be guided by the Secret Acts of 1962.’’

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State who was the special guest of honour at the occasion, eulogized the army. He described the conference as a first class act that confirmed the unity of the army and its heritage of loyalty.

Meanwhile, the first Multi-National Joint Task Force Commander in the North-East, Brigadier General Jonathan Temlong (rtd.) has charged members of the armed forces to be prepared for war without guns.

He spoke at the matriculation ceremony of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) for the 2017/2018 academic session. The 360 matriculated students are officer cadets of the 69 Regular Course of NDA.

Gen. Temlong who was the guest of honour at the event said the future of warfare would be a practical departure from the current knowledge to cyber warfare, where a country can be grounded without firing a single shot. He commended the NDA for introducing department of cyber warfare.

“The academy has taken the bull by the horn because they have just started a department of cyber warfare. In the future you find out that cyber warfare will take a chunk.

“You will have a situation where a whole country can be grounded, sitting in an office without even firing a single shot. The next warfare will be more Information Technology (IT) driven than physical force fighting.

“NDA has done a great job by being proactive in envisaging what future of war is going to be all about. This will compliment what the services are doing and even the nation as a whole, because it requires to harness the elements of national power to start looking futuristic and see how warfare is going to be in future.”