THE Chief of Standard and Evaluation, Nigeria Air Force, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Salihu Bala-Riba, has warned that the war against Boko Haram is not over.
Air Vice Marshal Bala-Riba, who is the past Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command, Kaduna, cautioned that the insurgents would want to prove that the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari “cannot do any better than the outgoing government in the fight against insurgency”.
He spoke in Kaduna yesterday when he was handing over to AVM Alkali Mamu as the new Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Training Command.
Expressing delight at the President-elect’s statement that “Boko Haram will soon see the collective will of Nigerians”, he reminded officers and men of the Armed Forces that they were the arrow-head of that collective will and could not afford to relax.
Reflecting on his stay at the training command, the Air Force chief said: “I was hard on my subordinates to achieve maximum security and excellence in our responsibilities. I had to be hard because, I would rather die fighting than to be caught up and killed like a sleeping fowl.
“You don’t expect me to allow insurgents take over any barracks under Training Command. If that happens, some civilians will faint in their homes, because they look up to the military to defend them”, he said.
AVM Mamu said the outgoing AOC has taught excellent pilots to support the operation of the Air Force as well as support the insurgency operation in the North.
He said: “AVM Bala-Riba came in as AOC at a difficult time when the nation is facing internal security and I am proud to note that, throughout his tenure, there was no incident at the Training Command.”
He assured that he was going to have a collective leadership and asked that the officers lead their men with a view to take the Air Force to the next level.