The Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd.), has said that the Federal Government knew that Nigeria would be worst hit by the death of Chad’s President, Idriss Deby, as both nations maintained very cordial security cooperation during his administration.
He said that the Federal Government has therefore beefed up security along its borders to prevent the influx of refugees that could further impair the nation’s security.
Magashi spoke Thursday at the weekly briefing organised by the presidential communication team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Chad’s military announced Deby’s death on Tuesday.
His 37-year-old son and four-star general, Mahamat Idriss Deby, was subsequently announced as his replacement to lead a Transitional Military Council for 18 months.
“When we heard of this unfortunate killing of the Chadian President, we knew that problem is bound to be replicated among neighbouring countries and Nigeria will be most hit by his absence.
“If there is insecurity in Chad, there will be a lot of problems. But thank God, we have a lot of military activities with the Chadian, Niger, Cameroon, we have all that military concern.
Read Also: NCC arrests 5 suspects over alleged fraudulent registration of SIM cards
“So, in the name of that multinational Joint Task Force, all these countries, including Chad, are contributing soldiers for the operation.
“We hope that very soon, we will find a secure way for the continuation of the activities we are supposed to be doing.
“The problem is now going to be aggravated because we are not sure the direction in which that country is going to face.
“But I assure you that we are mindful of our borders, we are mindful of the development, and politically, the government is putting its head together to see how best they can restore the peace in that country.
“So security-wise, we are beefing up all borders to ensure that refugees do not flow into the country,” Magashi said.
Leave a Reply