The newly appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General Farouk Yahaya on Wednesday said that air power was quite central in the ongoing efforts to rid the country of insecurity.

He made this known when he visited the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao at the Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force (HQ NAF), Abuja.

General Yahaya stated that he had always been an advocate of air power employment as a critical requirement of a fighting force having witnessed its formidable influence in various theatres of operations.

The Army Chief added that the war against insurgency and armed banditry cannot be won by a single Service but, through a synergistic approach where all Services work in unison.

“The earlier we all recognize that no Service can do it alone, the better for us as an armed forces and a Nation to surmount the current security challenges.”, he stated.

The COAS also thanked Air Marshal Amao for his  continuous support to the Nigerian Army and urged him not to relent.

While welcoming him to HQ NAF, Air Marshal Amao congratulated the COAS for his appointment and urged him to sustain synergy of efforts by the Nigerian Army and the NAF, in conjunction with other security agencies to rid the Country of all criminal activities.

The COAS  also performed wreath laying exercise at the NAF memorial arcade.

The Federal Government says it’s suspecting the activities of the social media giant, Twitter, following its decision to delete President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet referencing the civil war.

Buhari had in a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle, @Mbuhari, tweeted: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

Following several complaints, Twitter deleted the tweet, stating: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules”.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while reacting to the development, accused Twitter of double standard.

Mohammed said the social media giant has conveniently ignored inciting tweets by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and his cohorts.

He said Twitter ignored Kalu’s remarks that encouraged the killing of Police personnel and the show of similar biases during the ENDSARS protest where government and private properties were looted and set on fire, considering it human rights.

Mohammed, who wondered why the organization now found President Buhari’s tweet offensive, said Twitter’s role is suspect and Nigeria will not be fooled.

According to him; “Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concern about a situation, he is free to express such views. Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.

“Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr. President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that? Are we the ones guilty of double standards? I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with.”

Borno state Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Wednesday commissioned 580 units of two bedroom houses which were immediately allocated for resettlement of families displaced by Boko Haram who had, for years, been living at internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp.

Zulum unveiled the houses in Auno town of Konduga Local Government Area at a brief ceremony that was attended by government officials, the district head of Auno and displaced families which were given the houses under the state government’s drive towards safe and dignified resettlement of IDPs across the state.

The 580 houses were built by Borno’s Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) on Zulum’s approval, while a resettlement committee co-chaired by commissioner for RRR, Engr Mustapha Gubio, and the Special Adviser on Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support, Dr. Mairo Mandara, supervised allocation of houses and resettlement.

Zulum symbolically presented letters of allocation to families and directed the resettlement committee to work towards moving more displaced families from IDP camps to dignified homes.

He, however, lamented that IDP camps have been faced with so many problems of prostitution, drug abuse and exploitation of humanitarian interventions by citizens who relocate to camps in the day time mainly to get food rations meant for those with more severe needs after which they return to their homes at night, leaving the real IDPs with less food allocations.

The Governor said it was in that regard that he directed the closure of government IDP camps at the Mohammed Goni College of Islamic Legal Studies (MOGOLIS) and the NYSC permanent orientation camps, while displaced persons were resettled. He noted that the measure aims to ensuring optimum use of MOGOLIS for academic activities.

Earlier in his welcome remark, Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Engr Mustapha Gubio, explained that a total of 4,967 families, called households, were recently resettled with houses allocated to them in Damasak, Auno, Bama, Konduga town, Jere, Maiduguri and Marte.

Gubio also said that during house allocations, primary school teachers, nurses and security personnel were accorded consideration given their roles in communities.

The commissioner also announced more resettlement housing projects were ongoing and nearing completion amongst Kaleri, Warabe, Chibok, Ngarnam, Damboa, Marte, Dalori and more locations.