President Muhammadu Buhari will host leaders of Lake Basin Commission in an informal summit to bring up new strategies to end the menace of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.
Speaking at a bilateral meeting with President Idris Deby Itno of Chad Republic in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where both leaders are attending the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, OIC, summit, Mr Buhari disclosed that the meeting would take place on the side lines of Democracy Day and Second Term inauguration celebrations on June 12, 2019, in Abuja.
According to him, it was time for “a new way forward that completely removes the threat of terrorism from Lake Chad sub-region.”
The President said since elections were over, he would have more time to pursue the threat of terrorism with “full force’’.
The Nigerian and Chadian leader agreed on the need for sub-regional leaders to sit down and agree on changing the strategy “for a more sustained operation, which will continue until the threat is brought to a permanent end.’’
According to a statement by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President, the two leaders also discussed the challenge posed by rainy season to military operations against terrorism, agreeing to urgently review strategies that will bolster onslaught against insurgents.
The two leaders talked about how the meeting in Abuja will respond to infiltration of displaced elements of the Daesh, an acronym for ISIL’s Arabic name, al-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī l-ʻIrāq wa-sh-Shām, through Libya into the Lake Chad area.
