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Minister of Defense, Bashir Magashi, has said the security at Nigerian borders has been strengthened to avoid mass infiltration of Chadian refugees into the country.
Magashi stated this on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during the weekly briefing organised by the presidential communication team.
He noted that the move became necessary following recent developments in Chad.
Mahamat, son of the late President Idriss Deby Itno, took over as leader of Chad following his father’s demise on Tuesday.
Mahamat was appointed to lead a military council set up after his father was killed by rebel forces.
There are concerns of civil unrest as Mahamat’s emergence as president is contrary to the constitution that the Speaker of the parliament should take over power in the absence of the president, or in case he dies.
Speaking at the media briefing on Thursday, Magashi expressed optimism that security forces will adequately address the situation should there be crisis.
He said: “When we heard of this unfortunate killing of the Chadian President, we knew that problem is bound to be replicated among neighbouring countries and Nigeria will be most hit by his absence.
“If there is insecurity in Chad, there will be a lot of problems. But thank God, we have a lot of military activities with the Chadian, Niger, Cameroon, we have all that military concern.
”So, in the name of that multinational Joint Task Force, all these countries, including Chad, are contributing soldiers for the operation.
“We hope that very soon, we will find a secure way for the continuation of the activities we are supposed to be doing.
“The problem is now going to be aggravated because we are not sure the direction in which that country is going to face.
“But I assure you that we are mindful of our borders, we are mindful of the development, and politically, the government is putting its head together to see how best they can restore the peace in that country.
“So security-wise, we are beefing up all borders to ensure that refugees do not flow into a country.”