Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin
By Senator Iroegbu
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, has warned those trying to cow Nigeria through various forms of terrorist activities to perish the thought, warning that “nobody can bomb us into submission.”
Petinrin made this declaration Wednesday, at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Abuja during the presentation of entitlement cheques to the Next of Kins (NOKs) of the military personnel killed in action in 2012.
He said that in any country there are those whose stock in trade is to constitute a nuisance and use acts of intimidation to get power.
He, however, urged Nigerians, especially families of those who died in the line of duty while defending the territorial integrity of the country, to be resolute as “the days of trouble makers are numbered.”
He said: “We must be resolute, not only we in the armed forces but our families and children must be as resolute as we are.”
The CDS advised those harbouring ambitions of ruling the country to do so through the proper channels rather than through the back-door of violence.
“Nobody will bomb us into submission or kill us into submission. If you want to rule people you don’t rule them by killing, you rule them by appealing to them, by forming your party, and by running elections,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Director of Legal Services, DHQ, Commodore Ibrahim Shafi’l, said the cheques will help boost the morale of the fighting members of the armed forces and the families.
Shafi’l noted that the continuous implementation of the Group Life Assurance Programme (GLAP) is an imperative in order to sustain the commitment, dedication, readiness and utmost loyalty of military personnel and their families to make the supreme sacrifice for the survival and development of the nation.
“Today, the CDS will present cheques to NOKs of 83 personnel comprising 57 from the Nigerian Army, 17 from Nigerian Navy and nine from the Nigerian Air Force. They all died this year in different circumstances during official duty between January and July in the country and abroad,” he said.