The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Alex Badeh, has dismissed insinuation in some quarters that Nigeria is under siege of terrorists and insurgents.

Mr. Badeh, who was reacting to questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, also debunked the claim that the Armed Forces were not capable of defeating Boko Haram insurgents in the North East zone of the country.

“If a CDS loses his home town it’s the same thing as losing Lagos; it’s the same as losing Enugu. Any part of the country that is lost CDS carries the weight, ok.

“So, it is immaterial whether it is my home town, whether it’s my house that is burnt or Emeka’s house or whoever’s house that is burnt in Nigeria, the CDS is pained,’’ he said.

According to him, the fact that some parts of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are under the control of insurgents had not deterred the armed forces from carrying out its critical role of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation.

The CDS was in the State House with other security chiefs to brief the National Council of State on the current security situation across the country.

The rampaging Boko Haram insurgents, who have since planted their flag there, captured Mr. Badeh’s hometown, Mubi, last week.

On Tuesday, the militants renamed the town “Madinatu Islam” (the city of Islam) and urged trapped residents to go about their normal businesses, saying they would provide better security for residents and visitors under their reign.

Earlier on Monday, the Deputy Governor of Borno state, Zanna Mustapha, raised the alarm that going by the ease with which Boko Haram was capturing territories in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the three North-Eastern states might soon be history.

“If the Federal Government does not add extra effort, in the next two to three months, the three North-Eastern states will no longer be in existence,” he said.
“The Federal Government has tried its best but their best is not enough because rather than going after the insurgents, it is the insurgents that are going after us. It is a big crime that the criminals are better equipped than the military and they are just few kilometres from the Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states capitals.”

The deputy governor disclosed that 13 local governments in Borno, three in Adamawa and others in Yobe were currently under the control of Boko Haram.

He said, going by intelligence reports, if the Federal Government did not step up its security measures the fall of the three states would only be a matter of days or weeks.