To ensure that the successes recorded in the ongoing Boko Haram war is sustained, a mammoth crowd of youths from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states, on Thursday, marched to the Presidential Villa, Abuja to appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Military and all Nigerians for contributing to ending the war against terrorism in Nigeria.
The crowd, comprising of about 5,000 youths said the march was necessary due to the peace that has been recorded in their region.
The President General of the North East Coalition Against Terrorism (NECAT), Babangida Halilu, who led the peaceful march, said residents of the North East can now sleep with their eyes closed and return to their ancestral homes, despite all the losses they recorded in the past.
They expressed their appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Military for ending the insurgency challenge in the country.
The youths said being the most affected by the insurgency, the rally became necessary to show appreciation to the military for winning the war against insurgency.
“A day like today normally is not about speech making. Even if we turn it into speech making words are not adequate to capture our emotions or what we are grateful about.
” We will therefore try as much as possible to convey with words and in action the reason we are on this march.
“We are on this march because the North East Coalition Against Terrorism want to lead Nigerians from that part of the country to express our profound thanks and appreciation of the efforts in eradicating insurgency in northeast Nigeria and every other part of Nigeria.
“Those we are not familiar with the reign of terror we endured may find it difficult to relate with what we are talking about.
“We have heard people making comments like there is no need to specially acknowledge soldiers and their commanders because they are only doing what they signed up for but for us we know this is not the right spirit and approach towards people that risked their own life and comfort to free our homelands from Boko Haram occupation.
“The period Boko Haram overran towns and villages in the northeast were times of utter despair completely devoid of hope. They were days that we reckon our life expectancy in minutes and hours as we were never certain we will see the following day. The next bomb blast, the next gun massacre and the next killing spree by the terrorists was a matter of could occur in a matter of hours or a matter of a couple of meters from where one would be standing to the extent that all of us in the region were dead men walking.
“We profoundly thank officers and men of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies, who risked their lives to liberate the northeast. There is nothing we can do or say to adequately compensate for the sweat and blood they gave to free our homelands. We can only say thank you. To the families of the valiant heroes who died in the course of liberating our towns and villages from Boko Haram, we pray for God to strengthen them”he said
The leader of the coalition later presented a letter to a senior security officer at the Presidential Villa who promised to deliver it to the President.
