President Muhammadu Buhari has at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, met behind closed doors with service chiefs, before his departure to London on a 10-day vacation.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, said the service chiefs updated the President on the country’s military operations at home and abroad.

He stated that they specifically briefed him on the involvement of Nigerian troops in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Standby Force for the Gambian crisis.

Olonishakin said the operational mandate of the Nigerian Army in the ECOWAS Standby Force was in line with the decision of the Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS with regard to the mandate of Gambia’s President-elect, Adama Barrow.

He assured the Nigerian Army would ensure that the decision of the people of the Gambia was respected.

Answering a question about his vacation, President Muhammadu Buhari said there was nothing new about it.

The President, who was about boarding the presidential jet en route London, reminded the journalists that at about the same time in 2016, he had gone on holiday.

President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, also told the correspondents that the Buhari was going to rest.