By Ochiaka Ugwu
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The decline, astronomically in the asymmetric warfare occasioned by activities of terrorists, armed bandits and other emerging security threats in the country is not unconnected with the kinetic and non kinetic approach adopted by the Armed Forces of Nigeria in combating this criminal attitudes in the country.
While several hundreds of these terrorists, armed bandits and other criminal elements destabilizing the country had been sent to the grave by bullets and cannons of the gallant troops of the Nigerian military, several other hundreds had also surrendered to the Armed Forces of Nigeria under a unique non kinetic arrangement code named “Operation Safe Corridor.”
In recent time, terrorist groups in the northeast and the growing banditry in the northwest and North Central has declined to its lowest ebb because of the consistent and continued air and artillery bombardment of identified enemy camps by the Nigerian military.
This is also not forgetting the fierce onslaught against pirates, sea robbers, crude oil thieves, economic saboteurs and illegal oil refining cartel in the Niger Delta.
These continued killings of the enemy of state and the massive desertion of its fighting-force is giving way to sustainable peace that the country has since yearned for.
This is so because the nefarious and murderous activities of terrorists and bandits are not only inimical to peace development and sustainable economic growth but also a potent threat to food security in the country.
While speaking with State House correspondents at the seat of power, Aso Villa in Abuja recently during a clossed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on fight against insurgency, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, COAS responding to a question; if there will be a possibility of the various violent crisis across the country to be finally put down said, “The various shades of insecurity in different parts of the country will end as soon as Nigerians want them to end.”
According to him, “Those engaging in the violent and criminal activities are almost, Nigerians adding, “these terrorists, 99 percent of them are Nigerians. These kidnappers I will say, 100 percent of them are Nigerians.”
He said: “If Nigerians want it to end today, I can assure you it will end today, if everybody joins hand because these bandits are not outside Nigeria, they are not from foreign land.
“So it’s not just a military, security agency task to end insecurity in this country. It’s only when it goes bad that we are called in, but everybody has the responsibility to handle that.
“Some of the insecurities are as old as history itself and it all depends on what you are doing to contain or defeat it at a particular time. It is the totality of your effort that will determine its escalation or containment.
“There are setbacks that may occur in military operations or any security operations but that doesn’t mean inability and incompetence to handle it, as long as efforts are there and are visible, the support of all and sundry will be required to address it squarely.
“Like I said, if we want it to see the end of insurgency in the country, the totality of the people’s effort must be put into it to see that insecurity is reduced to the barest minimum.
“I assure you that we will soon reach the end of the tunnel and we will see the light that will improve the security situation in all parts of the country.”
He also revealed that the army had deployed adequate number of personnel to the north to secure the area, especially to protect farmers during this year’s planting season.
“The security situation I assure you is under control and is not like what use to happen a month or two ago. We are working very hard and the troops are doing very well and I commend them for the efforts they have put in so far. These include the kinetic and the non-kinetic aspect of our exercise Sahel Sanity. We are there fully supporting Operation Hadarin Daji, which is a joint operation of the armed offices and security agencies.
“So far, this collective effort is making tremendous progress in the area of bringing normalcy. Unlike the series of killings, kidnappings, cattle rustling and of course the threats to prevent the people from going to their farms this season, this has been removed with the presence of the number of troops in the northwest and they are carrying out surveillance operations, patrol to ensure that no one is molested if you go outside the community to farm or harvest.”
Also, a retired Airforce Officer, Samuel Ibeyemi corroborated the COAS noting that the criminals tormenting Nigerians are its people, calling all to be engaged in the fight.
He said with his experience as a product of the Military and with the support of President Buhari, the insurgents are in trouble.
“Talk about the welfare of soldiers, Buhari is number one; he is a soldier to the core.
“It was Buhari who brought the niche 21 and the bigger act of the air force, jaguar for strike group, niche 21 defence core. These were the two strike groups we had in Markurdi.
“We also had our fighter training group in Kanji, so, you see what Buhari did that time for the air force, he did the same for the army and the Navy. There are so many military operations which I was part of, an operation we had in Bakassi in 1985 in order to put fear in the Cameroonians; operation sea dog both the air force, army and the Navy.
“The operation going on in the North East and some parts of the country, I can tell you, it’s a done deal because Buhari will not talk so much and he doesn’t put anybody he doesn’t trust into positions of merit.
“If you see what we have been doing in terms of investment in acquisition of arms and ammunitions in the last five years, you would see that Buhari is truly prepared for Nigeria overcoming insurgency; with act of true professionalism of the troops, insurgency will soon come to pass.”
He urges journalist to stop propagating insurgency by reporting their nefarious deeds saying; “They only want to make noise with what they are doing just to create fear in the heart of our people.”
He also said journalist should stop following politicians because some of these politicians are sponsoring this insurgency adding “why would there be banditry in Katsina if not some workings of the politicians just to create the impression that Buhari isn’t perfect.
“Like the chief of Army staff said; 90 percent of kidnappers are Nigerians and those creating one problem or the other, So, there is every need we expose them.
“Let’s start exposing the evil people around us in our communities and insurgency will be a thing of the past in Nigeria.
“If there is peace in the six geo political zones there would be improvement in tourism.
“Let’s join hands with the Nigerian Army, Ministry of Defence and things would get better, there is hope for Nigeria. We need to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari so that insecurity would become a thing of the past,” he said.
On Service Chiefs, Ibiyemi stated that if you are at the war front and you change commanders, you are starting everything all over.
“If you change chief of staff who are already working on certain information, remember, in the military you don’t trust the next person so, the information you have, you keep it.
“So, let’s keep those Service Chiefs, they are not the problems, we are the problems,” he added.
While giving a general update on the Armed Forces of Nigeria operations, Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche explained that the Nigeria Military has continued its major operations across the country with attendant successes.
While commending the gallant troops for their resilience and unwavering commitment, fighting insecurity in the country, General Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff, CDS on a visit to troops at the war front in the north east recently pledged the support of the Defence Headquarters to the Nigerian Military in its operations.
General Olonisakin said the military is constantly re-strategizing on ways of fighting terrorism, banditry and other forms of criminality, adding that ‘one of such ways is the ‘Super Camp concept’.
The CDS also seized the opportunity to commend the leadership of the Nigerian Army for the establishment of the Super Camp, the successful completion of NADCEL 2020 and the flagging off of Operations Sahel Sanity to completely rid the entire Northwest zone of banditry, cattle rustling and other forms of criminality.
While briefing newsmen for the period, 24 July to August 6 on the Operations of the Nigeria Military against criminality, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche informed that the Armed Forces of Nigeria continued the aggressive clearance operations in the entire North-West zone of the country adding that, “Within the period under review, troops in the Joint Operations Area scaled-up kinetic and non-kinetic operations in the general areas of Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and adjoining states leading to gradual restoration of overall human activities in the zone.”
He noted that activities of armed bandits, cattle rustler, kidnappers and other sundry crimes hitherto made life unbearable for locals in the afore-mentioned areas.
However, through concerted efforts of Operations HADARIN DAJI, KATSINA ACCORD and SAHEL SANITY, farmers have returned to their farms while other economic activities are gradually picking up across the zone.
“Within the period, troops continued to dominate the general area with clearance patrols, aggressive fighting patrols, raids, ambushes and confidence-building patrols.”
This, he said is additional to several air bombardments of identified bandits’ locations and hideouts, which has made it possible for the conduct of farming and other activities in the zone. These operations also resulted in the rescue of kidnapped victims, recovery of rustled livestock, arrest of suspected armed bandits informants and collaborators in addition to the recoveries of large cache of arms and ammunition, among others within the period.
On the South-South źone, Gen Enenche said troops of Operation DELTA SAFE intensified the fight against crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal oil bunkering in the region with attendant successes.
“Operation Delta Safe also discovered and deactivated 25 illegal refining sites in Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States with a total of 342, 000 liters of product suspected to be illegally refined AGO, impounded.
“Subsidiary operations Calm Water II and Swift Response have continued to record remarkable successes. The successes recorded within the period include seizure of 141 x 50 kg bags of foreign parboiled rice as well as arrest of boats involved in smuggling activities amongst others.
“As part of non kinetic activities, Nigerian Navy Ship Delta led a peace and reconciliation meeting with the stakeholders of Gbaramatu Kingdom of Warri South LGA of Delta State. The peace meeting was held following recent threats to disrupt oil and gas infrastructure by the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom.
“Accordingly, the Naval Base summoned a meeting with the key actors in the agitation. The activists commended the military for the timely intervention and promised to tow the path of peace. The meeting was fruitful as they promised to do all within their reach to forestall violence in the area. They also solicited for the cooperation of the military in providing security to the general area.
At the North East zone, it was revealed that the Armed Forces of Nigeria continued to sustain the tempo in the fight against terrorism.
“Between 23 July and 5 August 2020, troops executed various kinetic operations, including clearance operations, aggressive patrols and Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance missions, sustained air offensive operations as well as artillery and aerial bombardments on BHT/ISWAP enclaves.
“As we engage in our kinetic operations, we also consider non-kinetic engagements in various quarters of the North East. Some of our non-kinetic operations involve humanitarian operations, which Operation SAFE CORRIDOR stands for.
“Operation Sàfe Corridor is a Defence Headquarters led non-kinetic multi-agency humanitarian operation established by the presidency, designed to De-radicalize, Rehabilitate and Reintegrate willingly, surrendered and repentant Boko Haram combatants.
“In addition to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other Law Enforcement and Security Agencies, 12 other Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies including NEDC as well as local and international NGOs collaborate and support the Operation. The Operation is guided by extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as Amended and International Humanitarian and Human Right Laws.
“We also explained the processes involved in the De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Re-integration programme in order to allay the fears of some members of the general public and reassure that, these individuals were duly profiled and confirmed to be; low risk and not low risk repentant, who were ascertained to be innocent and forcefully conscripted to join the sects and are categorized as victims.”
The Coordinator further stressed that monitoring mechanisms have been put in place to monitor criminal activities in the society.
In the North Central zone, General Enenche explained that troops conducted Civil Military Cooperation, CIMIC activities in addition to concerted Reconciliation and Conciliation efforts in the form of stakeholders’ meetings amongst the various ethnic groups in the zone. These non-kinetic efforts were supported by ongoing kinetic operations in the form of ambushes, raids, and clearance patrols at various locations which resulted in appreciable successes within the period under review.
CIMIC was introduced for the purpose of mutual understanding and relationship between the general public and the Military with a view to winning their hearts by getting more useful information which will help the Military in its operations.
Between 30 July and 1 August 2020, Headquarters, Operation Safe Haven commenced the survey for the drilling of boreholes at Shimlang community in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau state and equally commissioned two other solar powered boreholes at Messiah College and Gana Ropp communities in Barkin Ladi LGA of Plateau State.
“Furthermore, between 1 and 4 August 2020, Headquarters of Operation SAFE HAVEN, as part of Reconciliation and Conciliation efforts, fostered several stakeholders meeting within the period under review. Areas covered in this regard include communities in Sanga and Jama’a Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Barkin Ladi and Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau State.
“Meetings were also held at Headquarters of Sectors 3 and 4 of Operation SAFE HAVEN. All meetings were held with the leaders of the various ethnic groups including Hausa, Fulani and Berom amongst others. Issues discussed centered on habitual and peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups.
“Similarly, Headquarters Operation WHIRL STROKE held peace-meetings in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State between the Ardo of the Fulani community and the Tiv leaders in the area. Discussions centered on peaceful coexistence.
“Relatedly for the period, troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN also conducted a drug raid operation on 4 August 2020. Accordingly, troops in conjunction with police operatives and vigilante conducted drug raid to Unguwar Mata and New Market General Area in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State following credible intelligence on the activities of drug peddlers in the general area. Troops arrested 7 suspects at the scene and recovered large quantity of substances suspected to be Cannabis Sativa and other illicit drugs. The suspects were subsequently handed over to police for further action.”
With this achievement by the various troops, Gen. Enenche conveyed commendation of Military High Command to all the gallant troops of the Armed Forces and personnel of other security agencies involved in various operations across the country for their commitment and professionalism saying; “Troops are encouraged to remain resolute and decisive in curtailing the activities of terrorists, armed bandits and other criminals.
‘The High Command of the Armed Forces also reassures the general public of its commitment to securing the country for all human activities to strive. Members of the general public are, as always, enjoined to continue providing timely information on the activities of criminals in their various localities to the nearest military and other security agencies location for prompt and effective action.
