With the Nigerian military in the past fourteen days continuing to hold its ground eliminating 36 terrorists, arresting 137 gunmen, and rescuing 140 kidnap victims, defence spokesman Major General Edward Buba has assured that troops would achieve more successes in the anti-terror war but that Nigerians must be ready to expose criminals in their midst.
Director Defence Media Operations in the Defence Headquarters, Major General Edward Buba stated this on Thursday at the bi-weekly briefing of defence correspondents on the intensive activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) and other security agencies across the various theaters of operations in the six geo-political regions of the country.
According to him, troops of the respective military operations notably Operation Hadin Kai, Operation Safe Haven, Operation Whirl Stroke, Operation Hadarin Daji, Operation Whirl Punch, Operation Delta Safe, and Operation Udo Ka recorded signifcant successes in the war against terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and crude oil theft, among other sundry crime and criminality across the geo political zones of the country.
He said that within the period under review, the military arrested 15 alleged oil robbers and recovered N3, 177, 650.00 worth of crude oil in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country.
He said: “The military has no greater priority than to restore normalcy and put an end to security challenges across the country. The men and women of the military have answered a call to duty to fight the perpetrators of these evil to submission. We are in a good fight, and must flush them out from amongst us.
Major General Edward Buba of Nigerian Army Corps of Intelligence and the immediate past Director, Directorate of Foreign Liaison at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) where he related very well with serving Defence Attaches at Nigeria’s foreign missions underscored the importance of citizen engagement in intelligence gathering.
According to him, troops would do achieve more operational successes where Nigerians who are host communities in terror-prone areas volunteer credible and timely information about criminals living in their midst. He gave assurance that troops would sustain the momentum in tackling the security challenges and decisively fight suspected criminals and perpetrators of evil.
“Overall, troops will sustain the momentum in tackling the security challenges and shall continue to fight the perpetrators to submission. It is expected that well-meaning Nigerians would continue to support the military and indeed stand with the military to flush out the perpetrators of these dastardly acts from amongst us. Together we can flush them out.
“In Nigeria of today, it is not enough ‘to see something and say something” as is popularly stated. There are more people that know things happening around them than those who are waiting to see first before reporting. Consequently, I will say, “know something, say something and be assured the military will do something”. That’s how to flush them out from our midst,” he said.
Disclosing details of the operational successes recorded in the period under review, he said: “During the week and as at 3 August 2023, the military neutralized 36 terrorists, arrested 137 gunmen, 3 gun-runners, 2 kidnappers, 6 collaborators, 15 perpetrators of oil theft and recovered the sum of N3,177,650.00 as well as rescued 140 kidnapped hostages.
“In the course of operations across the country, troops recovered a total number of 37 weapons and 370 ammunitions. The breakdown is as follows: 16 Ak47 rifles, 6 pump action guns, 6 dane guns, 3 fabricated rifles, 2 locally made pistol, 199 rounds of 7.62mm special, 6 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 9 AK47 magazines and 2 G3 magazines, 8 vehicles, 45 motorcycles, 32 mobile phones, 925 machetes, 151 machete sharpeners.
“Others include: 61 dugout pits, 32 wooden boats, 87 storage tanks, one speedboat, 32 cooking ovens, 3 outboard engine, one generator, 2 pumping machines, 36 illegal refining sites, 310, 700 litres of stolen crude oil, 14,675 litres Automotive Gas Oil, 49,000 Dual Purpose Kerosine and 5 litres of Premium Motor Spirit.”
