Lockdown: Military to provide necessary force to support Police

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The Armed Forces of Nigeria said it will provide the minimum necessary force to support the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, to checkmate the nefarious activities of criminals wanting to take advantage of patriotic and loyal citizens, who are observing the lockdown directive.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja, while giving update on the activities of the military to curb the spread of coronavirus, Major General, John Enenche, Coordinator,
Defence Media Operations, warned all criminally minded individuals to desist from disturbing the peace of other citizens of the Country. “Otherwise, they will be tackled appropriately in line with the principles of Internal Security Operations and Rules of Engagement, in order to ensure the security of lives and property of peace loving Nigerians.

“In view of this, the general public is requested to provide credible information to law enforcement agents on criminal activities in their neighbourhoods, to enable them nip their plans in the bud. Furthermore, there should be no panic if increased military presence is noticed in the public domain.”

He urged the general public to strive to abide by the guidelines provided by the government on preventive measures against contracting the corona virus.

Enenche pointed out that, “all the six geopolitical zones are covered by the Armed Forces of Nigeria, that is Army, Navy and Air Force formations by the 21 designated isolation centres.

“Further to this, the 80 trained medical personnel are already deployed at our formations for engagement. In addition, Personal Protective Equipment have been provided. The highpoint of our level of preparation towards supporting the FGN to tackle COVID 19 pandemic is the provision of 2 military laboratories to carry out test for corona virus. These are the Defence Reference Laboratory in Abuja and Nigerian Air Force Reference Laboratory in Lagos.”