B/Haram: Buhari creates intelligence centre in Maiduguri

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the setting up of an intelligence fusion centre in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for the purpose of gathering and sharing intelligence among security agencies in the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday, said this was to tackle the desperate actions of Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast using underage girls as suicide bombers.

“This phase of the war will be intelligence-driven and the new centre is expected to intensify the harvesting and sharing of intelligence, so as to bring to an early closure, the desperate last-minute activities of the terrorists,” Shehu said.

He said President Buhari also ordered a military crackdown on bandits operating in rural communities in Zamfara State following fresh attacks on some communities in Shinkafi and Maradun Local Government Areas.

“To enable the army carry out this new mandate, the President has approved the request of the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (rtd) for the stationing of a full battalion of Special Forces in Zamfara State, and the operationalization of the newly-established 8 Division of the Nigerian Army in Sokoto in the new Order of Battle (OBAT),” he stated.

Shehu said the President also approved the movement of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army from Sokoto to Gusau upon the take-off of the 8 Division.