President Muhammadu Buhari says he will host leaders of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to an informal Security Summit on the sidelines of his forthcoming Second Term inaugural ceremonies slated for Wednesday, June 12, 2019 in Abuja.
The president made this known during a bilateral meeting with the Chadian President Idris Deby Itno in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, on the sidelines of the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday, June 1.
According to the president, the summit is to come up with new strategies to bring to a permanent end, the Boko Haram terrorism being faced by the countries of the Lake Chad region.
Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement said the two Presidents agreed that “the time has now come for the regional leaders to sit down to agree on how to change the unwinding nature of the war.
“This is to achieve a sustained operation, to continue until the threat is brought to a permanent closure”.
The Nigerian leader noted that now that elections were over and he is now back in full force, it was time for “a new way forward that removes completely’’ the threat of terrorism from the Lake Chad sub-region.
“The two leaders shared information on the oncoming rainy season and challenges that it poses for the ongoing military operations. They agreed on the need for urgent operational measures before that time.
“They also talked about how the meeting in Abuja should respond to the infiltration through Libya of the displaced elements of the Daesh, which is an acronym of ISIL’s Arabic name al-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī l-ʻIrāq wa-sh-Shām into the Lake Chad area,’’ the presidential aide added.
By Ismaila Chafe
