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Our military can check cyber terrorism, says Olonisakin
By Okodili Ndidi, Abuja
Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, has said the Armed Forces of Nigeria has, in the last five years, has developed capacity to protect the country against cyber and asymmetric threats.
Olonisakin, who spoke during his pulling out parade at the Mogadishu Barracks in Abuja, stressed that under his leadership, the Armed Forces had been transformed from being inexperienced in asymmetric warfare to one that had gained valuable experience in fighting asymmetric threats to the nation.
He said: “In the course of my five and a half years as the Chief of Defence Staff, the Armed Forces of Nigeria, under my leadership, and with the strategic guidance of the President, Commander-in-Chief, and the Honourable Minister of Defence, have been transformed from being inexperienced in asymmetric warfare and have over time built enormous capacity and gained valuable experience in fighting asymmetric threats to the nation.
“Our current capacity to defend Nigeria has transited from fighting conventional war on land, sea and air alone, to capacity to also contain threats to the nation in the cyber security and information domain.
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“We have, therefore, built a solid foundation on which the current and indeed future generations of Nigerian military Commanders can build on in the performance of their constitutional roles of defending our dear nation from both external and domestic threats to our corporate existence.”
Describing his five-year tenure as the Chief of Defence Staff as successful, Olonisakin assured that he left the Armed Forces in capable hands.
He said: “I wish to state that I am leaving the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the hands of a competent and experienced successor, who apart from being a former Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, a former Commander Operation Lafiya Dole end a former Chief of Defence Training and Operations, have also been fully involved in all our operational and other initiatives of the Defence Headquarters under my watch.
“I urge you all to continue to work with greater commitment and support to the Chief of Defence Staff and the Service Chiefs in order to achieve the mandate of addressing the spate of insecurity in our dear country,” he added.
Highlighting his experience in his military career that spanned 48 years, the Ambassador-designate, said: “It is with deep gratitude and reverence to the Almighty God that I stand before you this morning to deliver my farewell speech, having had a very successful career spanning almost 48 years in the Armed Forces of Nigeria, about 40 of which was as a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army and five years, six months and 13 days as the Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“I remain highly humbled by the opportunity and privilege to have served as the Chief of Defence Staff in the history of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. My long and successful career is by the uncommon grace and favour of the Almighty God, and the magnanimity of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR, who found me worthy of my appointment as the 16 per cent Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.”
