Tight security as Buhari, service chiefs visit Maiduguri

There is a heavy presence of security operatives in Borno State as the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and some service chiefs arrived Maiduguri, the state capital on Thursday morning.

The presidential jet landed at the Nigerian Air Force wing of the Maiduguri International Airport around 10am.

Buhari and his entourage were received by the state governor, Babagana Zulum; as well as other government officials.

The governor, had in a statement on Wednesday, said, “President, Muhammadu Buhari, will be coming to Borno State on Thursday, the 17th of June, 2021.

“The President is coming to appraise security situation in the northeast, during which he will commission some of developmental projects executed by the state government.

“The President will also commission the first phase of 10,000 houses which he generously approved and funded, for the resettlement of IDPs and refugees.”

The last time the President visited Borno was on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 when a crowd of angry residents booed him while his convoy drove through Maiduguri.

Buhari, upon returning from a five-day trip to Ethiopia for an African Union summit, had paid a condolence visit to the north-eastern state, following a Boko Haram attack.

Though Buhari and his aides had repeatedly told Nigerians that Boko Haram was defeated, the terrorists continue to kill, rape and abduct children, women and men in the state.

Details later…Punch