Troops of the 5 Strike Group Battalion of the Nigerian Air Force, have been enjoined not to relent in their fight against insurgency even as the Christmas festivities continue.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Abubakar Sadiq, made the appeal on Saturday when he visited the troops in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State.
Air Marshall Sadiq commended the officers and men of the battalion for their efforts in curtailing terrorism in the north-east, especially in providing logistics support in the operations.
“The purpose of my visit to Yola is first and foremost to convey President Muhammadu Buhari’s greetings to our pilots and technicians who have been doing an excellent job in the north-east to deal with the internal security of insurgency problem we are having here in the north-east.
“The honourable Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff are in Damaturu, I was with them yesterday (Friday) in Maiduguri while they were with the troops in Damaturu, I am here (in Yola) to convey the greetings of Mr President to our pilots and technicians and to also have the opportunity to also celebrate the Christmas with them.
“In the past, you find the terrorists moving in 15, 20 Hilux vehicles attacking one village after the other, I’m sure you haven’t heard of that since the directive was given.
“The terrorists are now more or less suicide bombers because they can’t really move in large number to occupy our territory and kill our people.
“I think, to a large extent, we have substantially degraded their capacity and have been able to meet the deadline. What we are doing now, is just to improve what we have been able to achieve”, the Air Chief said.