President vows to end extremism in battling terrorism

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday in Abuja reaffirmed the determination of his administration to rid the country of extremism as a way of eradicating violence in the country.

A statement by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari expressed this after receiving a briefing from a fact-finding team sent to the parts of the Federal Capital territory affected by Friday’s bomb attacks.

"The defeat of Boko Haram insurgency is in sight but to remove violence and make the country safe, we must tackle the prevalence of violent extremism.

"In doing this, we will learn from the experience of the international community,’’ he said.

President Buhari directed the security services to raise their surveillance activities to meet the challenges of a retreating,desperate terrorists and for the general public to remain acutely aware of security in and around them.

He sympathised with the families of the victims of the incidents as well as the families of the more than 100 others who were killed in similar fresh incidents in Borno.

The fact-finding team visited the Kuje and Nyanya bombing sites and sympathised with the victims of the incidents at the National Hospital and the Maitama General Hospital.

It inspected the wards and mortuaries and consoled grieving family members on behalf of the President.

The team was made up of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal; the Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and that of the FCT as well as the Police Commissioner in charge of the FCT.