The Defence Headquarters said on Thursday that troops have made several arrests of suspects following the killing of five soldiers in Aba, Abia State.
Director of Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba who disclosed this during media briefing in Abuja said that sequel to the killings of the 5 soldiers at the checkpoint in Abia, the several arrests have been made during several intelligence based operations
“The operations led to the discovery and destruction of several IPOB/ESN terrorists camps across the region such as at Igboro Forest in Arochukwu LGA of Abia State among others,” the director said.
“Several arrest were made from the raids with those found to be culpable still in detention. Surely, there is intelligence value to the raids and arrest that were made. Those in detention are assisting troops to locate other camps, sleeper cells and high profile individuals involved in the activities of the terrorists group,” he added.
Major General Buba said that during the week under review, troops neutralised 197 terrorists and arrested 310 persons. Troops also arrested 22 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 251 kidnapped hostages. In the South South Zone.
Troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Sixty Five Million Six Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand One Hundred Naira (N765,654,100.00) only.
While within the week troops recovered 180 assorted weapons and 5,123 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 2 PKT guns, one fabricated Arty gun, one G3 rifle, 73 AK47 rifles, 17 locally fabricated gun, 21 dane guns, 2 pump action guns, 2 revolver rifles, one short dane gun, 3 double barrel guns, 3 single barrel guns, one pistol, 4 locally fabricated pistols, 5 fabricated baretta pistols, one berretta pistol, one jojef magnum pump action gun, one Exp 64 semi auto rifle, 10 hand grenades, 3 60mm mortar bombs, bandoliers and 10 fabricated Arty bombs.
Others are: 3,207 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,022 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 13 rounds of 9mm ammo, 243 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 240 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm, 132 rounds of 5.56 x 54mm ammo, 143 live cartridges, 59 magazines, one pistol magazine, one ECOME HH radio, 4 baofeng radios, 4 vehicles, 47 motorcycles, 21 mobile phones and the sum of N1,236,200.00 as well as CFA 608,000.00 only amongst other items.
Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 29 dugout pits, 22 boats and 26 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 66 cooking ovens, 85 drums, 8 vehicles, 3 mobile phones and 43 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 728,360 litres of stolen crude oil, 143,450 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,100 litres of DPK
and 18,750 litres of PMS.
The Director of Defence Media Operations said that in spite efforts being made by troops, weighty allegations was labelled against the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) by the Zamfara State Governor in a recent interview on Channels TV.
“The AFN hereby makes it unequivocally clear that, it is a professional force that is subservient to political authority, particularly the political leadership of Zamfara State.
According to him,”the military will not join issues with the Governor, rather we choose the part of cooperation over conflict with the state Governor and look forward to constructively engage with him on these matters.”
“Troops of Op HADARIN DAJI deployed to Zamfara State have lost 9 personnel so far in the month of June 2024. Those killed in action are personnel and painful testament of our tireless efforts, commitment and sacrifice to restoring peace and security in the state,” he said .
Nevertheless, the allegations against the military and security forces operating in the state really needs to be analysed impartially and understood. The situation underscores the fact that, winning the war without the support of the people of the state is close to impossible.
“Interestingly, despite the state being described as the epicentre of kidnapping. The state has no internal security operation outfit to coordinate activities of security agencies operating in the state, as is found in other states. This situation leaves much to be desired.’
He said nevertheless the military will continue to work tirelessly to restore safety and security across our nation, adding certainly, “there is still a lot of fighting to do, in order to guarantee the safety of our homeland.”
Major General Buba said that citizens must clearly understand the reason we are fighting this war. They must understand that the terrorist will not stop, until they are stopped.
“Additionally, the lifeline of the terrorist groups is the people. Winning the war without the support of the people is close to impossible.”
While troops probably don’t have all the answers. Citizens should be rest assured that the military is working relentlessly to guarantee the safety and security of every citizen from acts of terror.