The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), on Thursday, declared that the Armed Forces of Nigeria was in total control of the current security challenges in some parts of the country, as it rolled out some of its recent successes against bandits
The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, (DMO) Major General John Eneche, stated this while speaking at the weekly Media briefing to update Defence Correspondents on the operational activities of the Nigerian Military and other Security Agencies engaged in the various operations across the country in the last one week to end the insurgencies.
He affirmed that in the week under review, the overall outlook showed enhanced effort by the security forces with a commensurate degraded action on the part of the enemies of the Nation.
General Eneche pointed out that this positive signal was connected to the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies tackling the various security challenges in the country to do more.
According to him, the break down of the successes recorded from August 6 to August 12 are as follows:
NORTH-CENTRAL ZONE
He disclosed that in a bid to curb the recent attacks and isolated killings in Southern Kaduna, troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN have continued to intensify efforts aimed at securing the lives and property in the general area.
According to him, “Special Operations Forces have been deployed to the Joint Operations Area covering the various flashpoints. This move is expected to achieve the desired result with the provision of credible and actionable intelligence specifically from primary sources
“In this regard, the locals are requested to cooperate with the security agencies by availing them with the required information that will be useful to our collective objective of taking out the criminals from the area”.
NORTH-WEST ZONE
General Eneche further explained that in the North- West, Troops of Operation HADARIN DAJI have continued the aggressive clearance operations in the entire North-West zone of the country.
According to him, “for the past one month, we have witnessed a downward trend in the activities of armed bandits and cattle rustlers in the general areas of Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto and adjoining states. Most of these criminal elements have been decimated.
“Gradually there are restorations of human activities in the zone. Farmers have returned to their farms while other economic activities have picked up across the zone
“The troops have continued to dominate the general area with clearance patrols, aggressive fighting patrols and confidence-building patrols”.
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SOUTH-SOUTH ZONE
He further added that in the South-South, “Troops of Operation DELTA SAFE have intensified the fight against crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal oil bunkering in the zone with significant successes
According to him, “within the period under review, Nigerian Navy Ship PATHFINDER patrol team discovered an Illegal Refining Site at Yellow Platform off Onne, Rivers State
“The site had 2 metal reservoirs laden with an estimated 314.49 barrels of crude oil and 90,000 litres of illegally refined AGO. Accordingly, the site was deactivated
“Similarly, Nigerian Navy Ship DELTA patrol team located an Illegal Refining Site along Lokpobiri in Burutu LGA of Delta State. The site had 23 ovens, 15 surface metal storage tanks and 9 dug out pits cumulatively laden with about 195,000 litres of products suspected to be illegally refined AGO
“Also, a speed boat laden with 4 sacks containing an unspecified quantity of illegally refined AGO and 3 pumping machines, were found at the site. Accordingly, the site was deactivated while the speed boat with its content was recovered to the Base”
SOUTHWEST ZONE
He stated that in the South-West zone, Troops of Operation AWATSE impounded a wooden boat with a sack containing 45 jerrycans of 25 litres, one 2.2 inches capacity hose of about 300 metres in length at Ibeshe area.
He explained that the items were evacuated to ATLAS COVE camp while the Troops also arrested a suspect in possession of some jerrycans of product suspected to be PMS and at Abule glass and the suspect handed over to Nigerian Navy Ship BEECROFT patrol team for investigation.
NORTHEAST ZONE
The Coordinator of DMO further said that “in the North-East zone, the Armed Forces of Nigeria have continued to sustain the tempo in the fight against terrorism in the zone with attendant successes.
According to him, “within the period under review, gentlemen of the press you could attest to the fact that there has been a reduction in the number of incidences recorded so far from the zone
” That is an evidence of own troops overwhelming superiority over the criminal elements which have drastically degraded the operational capabilities of the BHT/ISWAP elements
“Troops have also sustained the clearance operations, aggressive patrols and Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance missions, sustained air offensive operations as well as artillery and aerial bombardments in the theatre of operation.
“However, in the theatre, the attention of the Defence Headquarters was drawn to the alleged activities of troops in Baga, regarding dealings in livestock and farming. In line with military procedures, it was investigated and found to be baseless. The full details will be made available at the next briefing.”
WARNING ON EXTREMISTS MOVEMENT
General Eneche further pointed out that following the warning by US AFRICOM that extremists have begun deploying several strategies to silently re-establish themselves across some regions in Africa including the West Africa sub-region, the Armed Forces of Nigeria and all the relevant security agencies were leaving nothing to chance.
He said that consequently, actions in place in this regard were being reviewed to handle this all-important intelligence appropriately.
According to him, “_ I am directed to assure the general public that this is not a one-off but continuous effort as it were to ensure that the security agencies are ahead of this evolving security challenge”.
He said that the military High Command congratulated all the gallant troops of the Armed Forces and personnel of other security agencies for the feat recorded in various operations across the country while they were further encouraged to remain determined and sustain the tempo in curtailing the activities of terrorists, armed bandits and other criminals.
He added that the High Command of the Armed Forces also reassured the general public of its unwavering commitment to securing the country for all human activities to strive.
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