The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah,
has assured that government would put an end to
terrorism in Nigeria and canvassed collective
support for the military in the fight.
Minimah said this on Sunday at the Inter-
Denominational Church Service held at Our Lady
Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church, Mogadishu
Cantonment in Abuja.
The service, which was to mark the 2014 Nigerian
Army Day Celebration (NADCEL), had the
“Combating Current National Security Challenges
through Collective Effort’’.
“We are going through troubled times but they will
soon come to an end and we shall be glad at the
end.
“I promise you it will come to an end and we will
be victorious.
“The war against terrorism is a collective effort of
all Nigerians and I appeal to all Nigerians to join
hands in fighting this new war of terrorism.
“I want to thank Nigerians for standing by us, for
their perseverance.
“I also appeal to them that terrorism is a new
warfare. It requires time and patience for us to
defeat it.
“I am very much optimistic that we will deliver. We
will win the war.
“What we have in the North-East will certainly
come to an end soon.
“Our job is to continue to protect and preserve the
unity of this country and making it stable for
prosperity.
“Our job is also to uphold our constitutional role,
which is to defend the country’s territorial integrity
from insurgency and external aggression, and
provide aid to civil authority. That, we will continue
to do,’’ the Army chief said.
Using the Niger-Delta area, and Abia and Benue as
instances, Minimah said peace had returned to
these places and everywhere there were peaceful.
He said the army would prevail over insurgents as
it used to be in the past, saying they would win
the war against terrorism.
Minimah said the army was acquiring new
equipment, training its personnel and providing
welfare for the troops, all in a bid to end terrorism.
He, however, said the army decided to have a low-
key celebration for NADCEL 2014 because of the
current security challenges facing the country.
“A man does not celebrate his birthday if he is
bereaved. He has to just mark his birthday.
“I want to salute the gallantry of our troops, who
have paid the supreme price in the course of
defending their fatherland.
“These officers and soldiers had died in their duty
posts and we will not forget them.’’
In his sermon, Rev. Dawuk Danfulani, the Director,
Army Chaplain (Protestant), said Nigerians must
unite to faithfully seek God’s support if they were
to end terrorism.
Danfulani urged all Nigerians to collectively
condemn and expose evil deeds in the society,
even if the person perpetrating it was a close
relation.
“If a person is pulling down the system that is
supposed to stand, you have the right to expose
him or her.
“If we condemn collectively and expose evil-doers,
they will be afraid to do evil.’’
Taking his text from the second book of
Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 11, Danfulani said
Nigerians should not be ignorant as children of
God.
“So, we should unite and fight these perpetrators of
evil.
“As Nigerians, as Christians and as members of
the Armed Forces, since we have known the source
of our problem, we should unite spiritually to fight
the enemy.
“We must patriotically defend what God has given
us,and God will ask us and punish us if we fail to
defend it,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
prayers were offered for the country, President
Goodluck Jonathan, the Armed Forces and
deceased military officers and men.
The Nigerian Army, which celebrated its 151 years
of existence, was established in 1863.
However, the name Nigerian Army was first used
100 years later when Nigeria became a republic in
1963.(NAN)

You said that last year 2013. Guess what over 200 girls were kidnapped and they are yet to return.

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