Boko Haram Attacks: Buratai Relocates Army Operational Headquarters to Gudumbali; Meets with Junior Soldiers without their Commanders; Inspects Armouries; Meets Villagers in North East

Aftermath of the increasing wave of attacks on troop’s bases by Boko Haram in a bid to retake Nigerian territories in North East, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Tukur Buratai has relocated the Operational headquarters of Army Headquarters to Gudumbali in Guzamala local government area of Borno state

Gudumbali, one of the towns on the fringes of Lake Chad was attacked last Friday by scores of the terrorists who stormed the town with several pick-ups vans, gun trucks and were shooting at troops’ location with AA (Anti-Aircraft guns), which unsettled troops before the troops regrouped and foiled the terrorists attempt to take over the town.

Military sources disclosed that in a bid to finally curtail the recent sporadic attacks by the terrorists in the North East, the COAS has relocated his operations HQ to Gudumbali in Borno State.

The source said the Army Chief who is determined to get first-hand information of happenings in the theater of operations is visiting all formations, units and forward operations bases and holding durbars (meetings) with troops without their Commanders, to know if there are challenges.

“The idea is to get first-hand information from them about their welfare and other matters”.

The Army Chief is employing what an officer called ‘Rapid Fire Unscheduled Visit’ which means formations and units are not given prior signals that the COAS is visiting, hence troops in the North East are at 24 hours alert and vigilance.

“Lt. General Buratai is also having series of meetings with the locals and village heads of the several locations he is visiting and it is also aimed at finally breaking the ‘nerve’ of Boko Haram” a source said.

“He stopped in every village and assured the inhabitants of their safety”.

“In all the units visited he personally instructed the armorers to open the arms store to enable him physically inspect the weapons including support weapons in their inventories.

“This is to ascertain that they were very well equipped. Most of the weapons were also tested for serviceability. The unscheduled visit’s to the North East is to operational readiness of troops.

Meanwhile, a source has disclosed that at the time of filing this report, Lt. General Buratai is leading a fighting force against several Boko Haram terrorists in one of their known hideouts on the fringes of Lake Chad.

In continuation of the visit, Lt. General Buratai also visited Damasak, and Danboa.
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