Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai on Tuesday restated the unalloyed loyalty of officers and men of the Nigerian Army to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
This is coming a day after Governors and Traditional Rulers of Northern extraction said the recent #EndSARS protests were hijacked by people seeking to change President Buhari’s government outside the ballot box.
COAS stated this as Keynote Speaker during the opening ceremony of a two-day Directorate of Army Physical Training (DAPT) Officers Training Conference 2020″ (DOTC – 2020) currently running in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Represented by the Commander Infantry of the Nigerian Army, Major General Stevenson Olabanji, the Army Boss thanked Mr. President for his continuous support to the Army in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities.
According to Buratai, “I want to humbly express my profound gratitude to Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR for his continued arid invaluable support to the NA in the discharge of its constitutional roles.
“Therefore, I wish to pledge the commitment and unalloyed loyalty of officers and soldiers of the NA to the President and the defence of our democracy,” he said.
At the conference he said since 2015 when he was appointed as COAS, his leadership placed a high priority on training and retraining of men and officers of the Nigerian Army in order to build a pride responsive and responsible workforce.
“It is with the deepest sense of gratitude to the Almighty God, and with esteem delight that I am at this Edition of the Directorate of Army Physical Training (DAPT) Officers Training Conference 2020” (DOTC – 2020), taking place here in Zaria.
“Operational, administrative, and logistics strategies were evolved to reform fight against insurgency and other security threats nationwide.
“Also worthy of mention, was the need for the NA to return to the heights it occupied in sports excellence. Sequel to these, I have devoted a lot of resources for infrastructural and human capacity development, in addition to the training of our sportsmen and their participation for various national and international sports and military games.
“I have followed events in the PT Corps in the last one year. I have observed the diligence with which the personnel of this Corps has carried out the onerous task of keeping the NA fit for combat efficiency.
“I am not also unmindful of the recent achievements of our sportsmen in various sporting events, as outlined by the Director Physical Training (Army) in his welcome address.
“Consequently, the twin issues of fitness training and drive for sports excellence have led to landmark achievements both by the NA arid the individual sportsmen.
“The selection of this theme “Repositioning the NAPT Corps through Elective Training and Sports Excellence” is therefore apt. This has reinforced the age-long belief that training is at the heart of professionalism,” he added.