Determined to bring the ongoing counter-insurgency war to a decisive end soon, the Nigerian military again raised the bar by uncovering nd destroying certain safe havens sheltering some dare-devil insurgents, extremists and criminals. Consequently, about 50 were decimated in the last one weeks while 49 hostages regained freedom.
Director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Edward Buba stated this at a bi-weekly briefing of accredited defence correspondents in Abuja, noting that the discovery had significantly disorganised the criminals whose activities would remain totally unacceptable to the nation’s top military command hence the ongoing relentless operations of troops across the country.
The defence media operations spokesman whose detailed briefing featured video images of decimated and captured insurgents looking dazed, as well as successful airstrikes by the air components of the operations, said that necessary plans to re-strategize and uncover more of such criminals’ hideouts were being unleashed with a view to entirely ridding every part of the country of terrorism, banditry, crime and other forms of criminality.
Major General Edward Buba who is of the Defence Intelligence Corps maintained that the armed forces was constantly reviewing, re-strategizing and re-modifying its operations to be ahead of the criminals towards overcoming their usual changes in tactics across the country but he emphasized that public support from the populace was critical to the military’s successful operations.
“Accordingly, the ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations are designed to ensure that uncertainty is replaced with certainty.
“Among the central issues on the ground, in terms of setting security conditions and overcoming instability are the safe havens of some of these violent extremist groups that have existed for many years. These safe havens in effect provided a support base for insurgent activities.
“For instance, these safe havens provide the flow of funding, material, weapons, fighters, command and control that supports terrorism and insurgency confronting us. There are safe havens spread across various theatres ranging from the tumbuns in the NE to other locations such as national parks, game reserves and forests across the country.
“The military has identified several of these safe havens and operations are targeted towards ensuring that they are completely dismantled. Recently, one of the safe havens in Aku Forest in Okigwe LGA of Imo State in the South East was invaded. Troops found unspeakable and unprintable activities going on in the camp.
“These extremists are cannibals feasting on fellow humans and slaughtering them for other devilish acts. The operations of the last one week resulted in 50 neutralized terrorists while 114 of them were arrested.
He assured law-abiding Nigerians of their safety at all times, saying that troops of the Nigerian Military would not relent in their assigned constitutional duty in every part of the country. He maintained that ongoing military operations of the Armed Forces of Nigeria would continue to deploy its famed military might to neutralize any criminal group wherever there was threat in any part of the country.
He also disclosed that troops had been on top of their game across the country decimating and dismantling threats to national security and stability.
“Troops arrested 19 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 49 kidnapped hostages. In the South South, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of Nine Hundred and Sixty Eight Million One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Fifty Naira (N968,160, 050.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 65 assorted weapons and 400 assorted ammunition. The breakdown are as follows: 25 AK47 rifles, 4 locally fabricated rifles, 4 pistols, 6 pump action guns, 12 dane guns, 3 AK47 rifles loaded with 50 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo among others.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 54 dugout pits, 66 boats, 138 storage tanks, 253 cooking ovens, 2 pumping machines, 8 speedboat, 17 hoses, 18 drums, 2 cylinders and 53 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 983,350 litres of stolen crude oil, 144,980 litres of illegally refined AGO and 71,650 litres of DPK
“It is clear that some of the the safe havens from which these insurgents and terrorists operate from often extend across the borders with other countries, thereby making it a regional issue. Nevertheless, the objective of ongoing operations is to ensure these safe havens are completely destroyed within the shores of the country.
“The military will continue to fine tune its operations to ensure maximum protect of citizens and restore security across the country. We are getting it right and continue to encourage citizens that know something to say something, so that we can do something about it. Together we win the fight.”
He gave the assurance that the ongoing military operations would continue to set the stage for social and economic progress noting , “the ultimate goal is to secure the country through the defeat of those threatening safety of citizens and perpetrating insecurity across the country”.
