WE HAVE DESTROYED BOKO HARAM'S STRUCTURE - AIRFORCE CHIEF

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, said in Abuja on Thursday that the military operations in the insurgency ravaged region had totally destabilized and destroyed the Boko Haram strong hold by damaging its command and control in the area.

Amosu stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Defence (Airforce) for the 2015 budget defence.
He commended the collaborative efforts of the neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameruoun, Benin Republic and Niger in the fight against the insurgents in the North East.
He said the bilateral cooperation between Nigerian soldiers and those countries gave the nation’s security forces a lot of boost because they had blocked the terrorists from escaping into their countries.
He said, “On the 15th of February, we were in Lagos to harmonize equipment with the ammunition system. It was very clear that we were commencing a major offensive, we were going to storm the Sambisa Forest.
“Since 15th, if you notice, there has not been any major offensive from the Boko Haram terrorists. It is very clear that by our efforts, we have been able to disrupt their communication lines. The command and control is substantially damaged.
“Again, their ability to plan is not there. We have also been able to destroy their training stations. So, the issue of regeneration is out of it. We are lucky again to have our neighbours who have agreed to work with us.
“That has given us huge comfort because when they cannot run away to the neighbouring countries, we are sure that we are going to contain them here, and it will be easy to take them down. So far, we are happy and satisfied with what is going on.
“And I am happy to announce to you that we are getting a lot of cooperation from the citizens. We are getting valuable intelligence from the citizens. We just want to encourage them to keep it up because this is our country and we have no other country to go to.
“These are people coming from outside the country to attempt to destabilize our country. “I want to use this opportunity to acknowledge fully the support of Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“For me, this is a personal opinion, he has given more effort to security than even the politics. So, we are happy with him”
Chairman, Senate Committee on Airforce, Senator Saidu Alkali, who said that the primary responsibility of Government is to protect lives and property, assured the Airforce that he would do everything within his power to improve on the funding of the establishment to enable it continue to discharge its function effectively.
He said, “You see, as its enshrined in the Constitution of this country, it is the cardinal responsibility of government to protect life and property.
“So, despite that there is a challenge in our revenue, we have to prioritise the little that we have, to make sure that this country is protected. I am going to take it up with the Committee on Appropriations when I go to submit my report and make sure that they get more funding.”