A soldier on patrol with a protected dog

Perhaps inspired by the heroic demonstrated by a local dog which was able to stop a suicide bomber from attacking guests at a wedding in the city over the weekend, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai on Tuesday ordered the deployment of military sniffer dogs in and around the city as part of efforts to checkmate incessant suicide bomb attacks in the city.

Buratai gave the order on Tuesday after he inaugurated a sports complex built by 7 Division of the Nigerian Army at the Maimalari Cantonment.

The army chief frowned at the incessant suicide bomb attacks in the city but noted that the attacks had reduced recently.

He, however, said the attackers seemed to have “found another loophole but I want to assure you that that loophole will be blocked’’.

“I have already directed the deployment of the military working dogs.

“We have a battalion with the Nigerian Army Military Police and I have directed them to be deployed immediately around Maiduguri so that this continuous suicide bombing will cease once and for all,’’ he said.

Buratai charged the troops and Maiduguri residents to be alert and conscious of their environment as well as strange people around them.

He further charged the troops to work hard to ensure that peace was won after winning the battle with the terrorists, adding that the North East must be kept safe.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sports complex is named after the late Lt.-Col. U.B Umar, a commander of one of the army formations in the North-East.

Umar died in an ambush by Boko Haram terrorists in 2016.