by Our Foreign Desk

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari addressed Nigeria’s new military top brass yesterday in the run-up to a multinational offensive against Boko Haram extremists. 

Mr Buhari sacked the country’s entire military leadership on Monday and has appointed a new chief of defence staff, navy chief, security adviser, army chief of staff, chief of defence intelligence and chief of air staff. 

The president told them to help him rebuild the Nigerian army’s reputation.

“Your records gave you the job. Save for the new chief of staff, whom I briefly met at his command at the multinational joint task force in Chad, I don’t know any of you,” he said.

The former military dictator, who was elected in March, had previously criticised the military’s failure to defeat the extremists operating mainly in the north-east of the country.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan had appointed the sacked officers only in January 2014.

Nigeria is divided almost equally between Muslims who predominate in the north and Christians in the south.

Mr Jonathan was accused of being partisan in naming Christians to all but one of the positions in the armed forces traditionally dominated by Muslims. 

Both the new army chief of staff Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai and the national security adviser Major General Babagana Monguno, are from Borno state — the birthplace of Boko Haram.

A multinational army drove the insurgents out of towns and villages earlier this year, but suicide bombings and village attacks have increased, killing more than 250 people in the past two weeks.