President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Abuja for Maiduguri, Borno State, to attend the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference.

The conference was earlier scheduled to take place from 26 -28 November 2018 in Benin, Edo state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the change in the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Annual Conference from Benin City to Maiduguri may not be unconnected to the killing of Nigerian soldiers at Metele, a remote village bordering Nigeria and Chad.

While in Maiduguri, the president is also billed to pay a courtesy visit to the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Garbai El-kanemi, and visit hospitals to sympathise with victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

NAN reports that Maiduguri metropolis and its environs have been placed under heavy security , as soldiers, police and other security personnel had been deployed to major roads and other strategic locations in the metropolis for a successful one-day official visit of the president to the state.

Traders’ unions, according to NAN, have directed their members to close shops to enable them to welcome the president.

NAN learnt that Mr Buhari would use the opportunity of the COAS conference to address the Nigerian soldiers at the battlefields to boost their morale.

(NAN)