Service chiefs, others meet in Aso Rock over Boko Haram

Chief of Army staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai PHOTO: NAN

Determined to halt the prevailing humanitarian crisis in the northeast, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Yusuf Buratai; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari and other government officials yesterday met at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A source said the military chiefs were directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to meet with Kyari and other government officials and come up with urgent measures that would proffer lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis in the zone.
It was learnt that the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and Chief of Air Staff (CAS) could not make it to the meeting, as they were out of Abuja.The region had been ravaged by insurgency until recently when most parts of the area were liberated through a sustained onslaught by the military.
For a long time, the activities of the insurgents had left scores dead and homeless, a development that has resulted in humanitarian crisis, which the government is battling to tackle.
Recall that the President two weeks ago suspended the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Babachir Lawal, over allegations of award of contracts worth over N200million under the Presidential Initiative on the North-East (PINE).
The President had been accused of shielding the SGF, who was in December last year, also accused by the Senate of awarding contracts for grass cutting in the crisis-ridden northeast to his company, Rholavision.
He was also accused of awarding contracts to Josmo Technologies to the tune of N272 million, only for Josmo to allegedly pay back the sum into Rholavision’s Ecobank account some days later.The Senate allegations followed the adoption of the report of its ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the Northeast.