Abuja--Nigeria on Thursday called for one of its commanders to be put in charge of a new regional fighting force until Boko Haram was crushed, as coalition partners met to discuss military strategy.
Heads of state and government from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin jetted in to Abuja, after two days of preparatory talks involving military top brass and defence ministers.
But Muhammadu Buhari left no doubt about his desire to control the counter-insurgency, suggesting a six-month rotational command structure between the five nations could harm the fight-back.
"Such a process will undermine, even if it is not intended, the military capacity to sustain the push against the insurgents," said the Nigerian president.
A single commander would improve "the effectiveness of military strategy, since Nigeria will be providing the bulk of the troops and the main theatre of the war is on Nigerian soil," he added.
Nigeria's military last week announced that Major-General Tukur Buratai had taken charge of the Multi-National Joint Task force (MNJTF), which has its headquarters in Chad's capital, N'Djamena.
Buratai told the BBC on Tuesday the violence had been "dragging on for too long and we want to get a final solution to it."
AFP
