Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Chris Musa, has commended the defence attaches of some embassies in Nigeria for visiting the North East war theatre.
General Musa gave the commendation Thursday evening during a dinner he hosted for 17 defense attaches who paid a working visit to the headquarters of the war operations against lingering insurgency in the North East.
General Musa, who was flanked by top Commanders of the theatre headquarters, including the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Waidi Shaibu, described the visit of the diplomats as heartwarming to him.
“It’s been a long time that we had this array of friends here like this. From where I am standing, what I see is a United Nations of some sort,” He said.
General Musa appreciated the diplomats for coming to the theatre to see things for themselves and for following a long schedule which started with receiving briefings from the theatre conference hall and a visit to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) before settling down to unwind at the dinner session.
To the humanitarian partners present on the occasion, Musa urged them to continue the good work adding that “the success of your work at the United Nations makes our work much easier.
“Let me assure you that we will not relent but to continue until we get to our final destination.”
Shaibu equally commended the team for coming to see things as they are in the theatre on their own from Ndjamena Chad.
The Commander Sector 1 revealed that they were deliberately taken to certain areas of the Maiduguri metropolis without notice to see things for themselves unhindered as residents went about their daily affairs in peace, unlike reports they may have been getting that the city has been laid waste completely by terrorists.
The leader of the delegation, Major General Edward Buba, who is also the Director of Foreign Liaison at the Defense Headquarters, in his remarks said that many gains were made from the visit by the diplomats.
Responding to questions after the dinner from this reporter, General Buba said, “We came to have an on-the-spot assessment of the operations here in the North East of the country.
“It would help us make bilateral progress by way of promotion of goodwill and even more from individual countries represented in the team.
“This is because during the tour some requests were made and those who have a strong bilateral relationship with the country will surely be doing one thing or the other with us in our bid to end this war.”
The attaches from Uganda, Zambia, Gambia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, France, Cote d’Ivoire, China, India, Morocco, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Ukraine, Denmark, and Algeria have since left for Abuja.