According to information from the Nigerian military headquarters, Special Operations Forces (SOF) have been deployed to combat the escalating Southern Kaduna killings. For over ten years now, northern Nigeria has been bedeviled by violent killings spearheaded by Boko Haram Islamist group. But, lately in Southern Kaduna, the killings have taken a new dimension with thousands of people murdered on weekly basis why the state authorities watch.
As a result, so many prominent Nigerians both those from the north and others from the south have been calling on the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to do whatever it takes to stop the killings. But what may have broken the Camel’s back was the latest outburst of the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, who alleged that some repentant terrorists told him that a serving northern governor is a Boko Haram leader. Mailafia made the massive allegation on ‘Morning Crossfire’ programme on Nigeria Info Abuja 95.1FM on Monday.
But in an apparent reaction to the outburst, the Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, while giving update on military operations during the weekly media interaction with Defence correspondents, said, “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.
He said, “Particularly, Special Operations Forces have been deployed to the Joint Operations Area covering the various flash points. This move is expected to achieve the desired result with the provision of credible and actionable intelligence specifically from primary sources.” He added that, “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.”
The army spokesperson said, “for the week under review, the overall outlook shows enhanced effort by the security forces with a commensurate degraded action on the part of the enemies of the Nation. This positive signal is connected to the directive by the Commander in Chief to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies tackling the various security challenges in the Country to do more.”
In the North West, Enenche disclosed that, ‘troops of Operation Hadarin Daji have continued the aggressive clearance operations in the entire North-West zone of the country. For the past one month we have witnessed 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 is restoration 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. The High Military Command congratulates the troops for the feat recorded and encourages the good people of the zone to continue to provide credible information to the troops.”
He also pointed out 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. 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 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. The Armed Forces of Nigeria will sustain the onslaught against economic sabotage. The general public is hereby enjoined to continue to provide timely and credible information to the troops”.
