By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
The Theater Commander, Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Chris G. Musa has decorated officers and soldiers of the theater command who have distinguished themselves in their assigned responsibilities in the forefront of counter insurgency in the north east operations.
Maj. Gen. Musa also presented letters of honour and commendation to 5 officers of the Operation Hadin Kai JTF, while medals of honour were presented to media professionals, who have distinguished themselves in their various responsibilities.
The decoration and presentation of medals, awards and letters to the officers, soldiers and the media practitioners, was held at an event to mark Nigeria’s Independence Day Celebration, which was held on Saturday at the Theater Commander Headquarters Maimalari Cantonment Maiduguri.
In his key note address, The Theatre Commander charged them to continue to display their professionalism and gallantry to end the war while the Nigerian Army will continue to cater for them adequately and motivate them accordingly to boast their morale.
He added noted that the decoration was in the recognition of their sacrifices and dedication to duty in the course of their services to their fatherland as officers and men of the Nigerian military including the media as critical stakeholders in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
He said: “Today Saturday, we are gathered here to mark the 62nd Independence Day Anniversary of our country, Nigeria. The Nigerian military, is where the officers and soldiers play a vital role to improve security situation and ensure the restoration of peace in the north east region and Lake Chad Basin.
“I commend the officers and soldiers as well as the media , all the citizens and security agencies as well as governments and NGOs, etc should continue to partner with the Nigerian Army to restore peace permanently in the region and Lake Chad Basin.
“Despite the challenges, we have made good efforts and sacrifices to ensure peace returns to the region and we shall never relent on our efforts. However, we need your support and cooperation to finish the job. Everybody is a stakeholder and together we shall end the war”, Musa said.
The Theater Commander while further conferring awards of honour and gallantry to 5 deserving officers of the theater command, he said, “The Nigerian Army has also been displaying its competence in containing internal conflicts, uprising, banditry and Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.”
“Despite the complications in the war against insurgency, the Nigerian Army has been striving to carry out its operations with extra caution to ensure that the law-abiding citizens do not suffer damages following the nefarious activities of the insurgents”.
General Musa said that ,””It is therefore, a matter of pride to note that in spite of the new challenges associated with the execution of war against insurgency, the Nigerian Army has continued to demonstrate commitment and resilience towards ending the threat. In the process, a lot of the Army and Para-military personnel have paid the supreme price while many others were injured or incapacitated.
“I pray, may their souls rest in perfect peace and also pray for the quick recovery of the injured. I wish to commend all the personnel of the JTF Operation Hadin Kai for their patriotism and being the backbone in executing the war against insurgency in the north east and Lake Chad Basin region to date”, General Musa added.
A total of 35 officers, 48 soldiers and 36 others were presented with medal award, while 5 officers were honoured with commendation letters and gallantry award and 9 media critical stakeholders as combat journalists were presented with medals for their show of professionalism and doggedness in their responsibilities.
The 5 distinguished awards of honour and gallantry that were presented to the 5 officers, namely, Lt. Col. Manga, Squadron Leader Ayu, Assistant Superintendent Immigration A Abashi, Last Cprl. Yahaya Hussaini and Last Cprl. Abbas Sunday.
Meanwhile, the media critical stakeholders in the reportage and management of news/Information on military activities that were Honoured and decorated included Ndahi Salihu Inusa of Vanguard Newspapers, Hamza Suleiman of NAN, Haruna Dauda of VOA, Sadiq Abubakar of Blueprint Newspapers, Patrick Mark of AIT, Timothy Olanrewaju of The Sun Newspapers and Ahmed Mari of Champion Newspapers.
Others include Hassan Ibrahim of Daily Trust Newspapers, Mamuna Garba of NTA Network Center, Jesse Tafida, of TVC, and Abdulkareem Haruna of HumAngle Online Newspaper among others.
Highlights of the occasion include decoration and presentation officers, soldiers, media practitioners, group photographs and refreshment.
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