President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his planned five-day
“casual leave’’ as a mark of respect for victims of Boko Haram attacks
across the battlefields in the Northeast zone of the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the President had planned
to spend the casual leave at his home country, Daura, Katsina State from
Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.
The president, had earlier cancelled his official trip to Benin
City, Edo, where he was initially billed to inaugurate the Edo-Azura
Power Plant and grace the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Annual Conference.
NAN reports that already the advanced teams of the president, who
left Abuja for Katsina and Benin on Sunday, had been asked to return.
It was gathered that the cancellation of the trips would also
enable the president to continue his ongoing meetings and consultations
with relevant security and intelligent community aimed at addressing the
nation’s security challenges.
However, the president is expected to declare the Chief of Army
Staff (COAS) Annual Conference, which was moved from Benin City to
Maiduguri, Borno, on Nov. 28 at the Government House Conference Hall
(CGH).
President Buhari’s aide on New Media, Alhaji Bashir Ahmad, had on Sunday confirmed this development on his tweeter handle.
He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to declare the
COAS Annual Conference on Nov. 28, 2018 at the Conference Hall CGH in
Maiduguri, Borno state. The conference was earlier scheduled to take
place from 26 -28 November 2018 in Benin, Edo state.”
News Agency of Nigeria also gathered that the shifting of the Chief
of Army Staff (COAS) Annual Conference from Benin City to Maiduguri
might not be unconnected with the killing of Nigerian soldiers at
Metele, a remote village bordering Nigeria and Chad.
President Buhari would use the opportunity of the COAS conference
to address the Nigerian soldiers at the battlefields to further boost
their morale.