Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has blamed late alert and notifications to appropriate military and law-enforcement agencies by persons and communities threatened by suspected terrorists and kidnappers for the recurring spate of kidnappings and hostage taking in the country.
Notwithstanding, it said, Nigerians should not fear as gallant troops had been deployed to the epicenter of the North West region and other theatres of operation, maintaining that though it appeared that armed bandits were running riot in North East, North West and North Central states as terrorist groups and using the abducted school children as human shields against military onslaught, the Armed Forces of Nigeria would not rest until the kidnap hostages were finally rescued.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba stated this in Abuja on Thursday at a regular bi-weekly briefing on military operations across the six geo-political zones of the country.
Insisting that the nation was in a state of war laced with complexities, he charged Nigerians to brace up and close their ranks to fight insecurity frontally and displace criminality in the land.
He said: “As in every war, there are complexities and ours is no exception. Recently, cases of citizens being abducted in the NE, NW and NC theatres of operations were recorded. These citizens were abducted by a brutal and blood tasty group that should only be addressed as terrorist, and not bandits.
‘’I repeat, these are terrorists and not bandits. They are holding these citizens against their will and against all norms of human behaviour, and against the laws of armed conflict and any good measure in the world. No doubt, this is a difficult situation, but not one that is insurmountable.
“The hostage situation is an extremely sensitive one which unfortunately is not unprecedented in the history of the ongoing war. These hostages are being held in locations that are difficult to get to, but not out of reach. The situation is however indicative of the desperation of these terrorists to avoid troops onslaught by all means.
“Recall that in recent times troops have decimated several of the terrorist leaders, commander and foot soldiers and fast closing in one several others. These terrorists have exhibited cowardice by going for such soft targets to impede troops’ advances.
‘’I assure you that we will not rest until they are returned. Several of their leaders and commanders have been killed as a result of troops’ onslaughts. They want to use these hostages as human shield for their survival. Nevertheless, be assured that we will not rest until the hostages are returned’’, he said, while assuring the nation that the professional Nigerian military was committed to rescuing the hostages despite the challenges of the obscure and complex locations where they were being held.
Highlighting the successes of recent military operations, Major General Edward Buba disclosed that in the last two weeks, troops had killed 213 and arrested 216 suspected terrorists while 67 suspected of oil thieves were apprehended and 26 kidnap hostages rescued.
Major General Edward Buba revealed that troops denied the oil thieves of stolen crude oil estimated at One Billion, Five Hundred and Fifty Eighty Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Five Thousand, Eighty Naira in the oil-rich South-South region (N1, 558, 665,080.00) .
He added that troops recovered 189 assorted weapons and 4,003 assorted ammunition with the breakdown as follows: 111 AK47 rifles, G3 rifle, 31 locally fabricated guns, 5 pump action guns, automatic pump action guns, 26 dane guns, 4 locally made double barrels, 2 fabricated pistols, RPG bomb and IEDs (OGBUNIGWE).
Furthermore, the armed forces, he said, recovered a significant cache of weapons and ammunition, including 111 AK-47 rifles, 31 fabricated guns, 2,766 rounds of live ammunition, and 44 motorcycles, among other items. Troops, he said, recovered 189 assorted weapons and 4,003 assorted ammunition.
”Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 150 dugout pits, 30 boats, 73 storage tanks, 209 drums and 15 vehicles. Other items recovered include 105 cooking ovens, three pumping machines, two outboard engines, one tricycle, four motorcycles and 45 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,227,470 litres of stolen crude oil, 313,780 litres of illegally refined AGO and 13,000 litres of PMS”.
The Director of Defence Media Operations further insight into the hostage situation emphasizing that ongoing search and rescue efforts was grossly impeded by the non-timely notification of troops of the terrorists’ attacks and incidents.
“Because of the sensitivity of the matter, I cannot go into further details as to signs of life, location, and the different options that we have in order to get these hostages back.
‘’I can further assure that, getting these hostages back is very clearly on the top of our priorities. It is for this reason we have leveraged on our international partners for support.
‘’Accordingly, they are providing the necessary support including intelligence that is giving us the advantage in dealing with the ugly situation,” he said.
According to Major General Buba, three major significant abduction cases on 9 March 2024, terrorists invaded and kidnapped 16 pupils (Almajiris) with a woman in Gada LGA of Sokoto State, an incident which took place about 0100hrs was not reported to troops until about 1500hrs of same day. The late reporting of the incident affected troops’ response time in the ongoing search and rescue effort.
‘’Also on 3 March 2024, troops received information from coordinator Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) about suspected abduction of unknown number of IDPs by suspected terrorists in Gamboru Ngala LGA of Borno State.
‘’Preliminary investigation revealed that IDPs left camp to undisclosed location to fetch firewood beyond the permissible distance. They reportedly did not notify the camp authorities of their movement. It was later at about 2030hrs at night, when the IDPs did not return to camp that alarm was raised as to their possible abduction by terrorist.
‘’It was at that stage that troops were notified of the incident. The standard practice was for troops to be notified prior to any movement of IDPs beyond the permissible distance of 5-7 kms from their camp.
‘’The IDPs reportedly went beyond the permissible distance to get firewood as a result of deforestation around their camp. The terrorists abducted 112 IDPs in the process. Nevertheless, effort is ongoing to get back the hostages.
‘’And another abduction case on 7 March 2024, troops received information that terrorists had invaded LEA School in Chikun LG of Kaduna State and abducted unconfirmed number of pupils.
‘’The incident was not reported until several hours after the occurrence. The delayed reporting of the incident adversely affected troops’ response time in the ongoing search and rescue effort.
‘’These abduction cases were carried out due to cowardice exhibited by terrorists going for such soft targets to impede troops advances.
“I assure you that we will not rest until they are returned because in recent times troops have decimated several of the terrorist leaders, commander and foot soldiers in and fast closing in one several others.”
‘’Given the hostage situation, it can be deduced that the search and rescue effort was grossly affected by the non-timely notification of troops of the incident. Nevertheless, I can assure you that we will not rest until these hostages are returned.
He further assured that, getting the hostages back was very clearly on the top of military priorities.
“It is for this reason we have leveraged on our international partners for support. Accordingly, they are providing the necessary support including intelligence that is giving us the advantage in dealing with the ugly situation’’, he said.
