By Kingsley Omonobi

ABUJA – Following concerted coordinated bomb attacks in Gombe State and at the Church of Christ in Nigeria, COCIN, Plateau State, Sunday, in which several people lost their lives, Defence and Army headquarters have directed a round-the-clock state of alert in all the Northern states of the federation.

The directive of the DHQ and AHQ came even as Vanguard gathered that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar tasked Area Commanders, Squadron Commanders of MOPOL and anti-terrorist squads in the states of the federation, especially in the North, to commence regular patrols and stop suspicious vehicles whose motive or destination cannot be ascertained.

Vanguard gathered that as a result of the directives from the military high commands, special military squads are to be constituted and deployed by Brigade Commanders with the General Officers Commanding, GOCs, and their equivalent from the Air Force and Navy coordinating the deployment towards ensuring that their impact is felt and the menace of Boko Haram is checked.

Already, Vanguard gathered that the Defence authorities are toying with the idea of deploying members of the armed forces to border areas of the North, which cover neighbouring countries as Chad, Niger, Sudan, and Cameroon.

The deployment of the military to these border areas will not be to take over the jobs of Customs and Immigration but to complement their efforts because of the wide expanse of the borders and their porosity.

Towards this end, it was gathered that the Chief of Operations, Army Headquarters, Maj-General Lawrence Ngubane, on the directive of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, went on a tour of Northern states like Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, Kebbi, Kano and Zamfara.

Vanguard was informed that new operational strategies which will help consign the menace of Boko Haram attacks to history would soon be put in place by the military authorities.

On the part of the Police, it was gathered that the Inspector-General, shortly before he travelled to Lagos at the weekend, summoned Squadron Commanders from the MOPOL and Anti-Terrorists Squads, where he handed directives that both squads, which contain the fighting arm of the force, should increase patrol activities especially, now that Police check-points are being de-emphasised.