METELE: Buhari reportedly cancels his 5-day casual leave as mark of respect for murdered soldiers

President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly cancelled his planned five-day “casual leave’’ as a mark of respect for victims of Boko Haram attacks, especially those from the recent deadly attack in Metele, Borno, that led to the death of an estimated 100 soldiers.

The President is said to have planned to spend the casual leave at his home in Daura, Katsina State, from November 27 to December 2.

Buhari had also earlier cancelled his official trip to Benin City, Edo, where he was initially billed to inaugurate the Edo-Azura Power Plant and grace the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference.

There are reports that advanced teams of the president which left Abuja for Katsina and Benin on Sunday, had been asked to return.

Read also: METELE: Atiku, PDP playing desperate politics with blood of our soldiers –APC

The cancellation of the trips would reportedly enable the president to continue his ongoing meetings and consultations with relevant security and intelligence community personnel aimed at addressing the nation’s security challenges.

However, the president is expected to declare open the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference, which was moved from Benin City to Maiduguri, Borno, on November 28 at the Government House Conference Hall.

President Buhari’s aide on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, had on Sunday confirmed this development on his Twitter handle.

He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to declare the COAS Annual Conference on November 28, 2018 at the Conference Hall CGH in Maiduguri, Borno state.

“The conference was earlier scheduled to take place from 26-28 November 2018 in Benin, Edo state.

It was gathered that the shifting of the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference from Benin City to Maiduguri might not be unconnected with the killing of Nigerian soldiers at Metele, a remote village bordering Nigeria and Chad.

President Buhari, it was learnt, would use the opportunity of the COAS conference to address the Nigerian soldiers at the battlefields to further boost their morale.

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