The Chief of Army Staff Lt.- Gen. Faruk Yahaya has said the injection of modern equipment and specially trained troops has been rewarding in the fight against terrorism and other criminal elements.
General Yahaya stated this on Monday at the opening ceremony of 3rd quarter COAS conference holding in Abuja.
“Our continuous injection of specially trained troops and special equipment through Operations LAKE SANITY and DESERT SANITY to complement efforts by Operation HADIN KAI have been rewarding.
“The insurgents and terrorists no longer have freedom of action and that has amongst other benefits resulted in massive surrender by the adversaries. These efforts expectedly have enhanced troop poise and greatly improved the security situation and public confidence in the North East.”
He continued, “In terms of equipment procurement, in this quarter, the Nigerian Army has procured and inducted assorted modern military platforms into the various theatres of operation as force multipliers. The deployment of these platforms has significantly bolstered troops’ fighting spirit and enhanced our performance across all theatres of operation”.
He, therefore, charged field commanders to adequate maintenance of the acquired platforms and sufficient training of troops to operate the modern equipment.
He said the Nigerian Army efforts in Operation HADIN KAI in synergy with the sister Services and other security agencies have significantly curtailed terrorism and insurgency that hitherto bedevilled the North East part of the country.
He re-echoed that Nigeria attained its best record against terrorism since 2011 in 2022.
“In the past 11 years, from 2011 to date, Nigeria recorded its highest rating against terrorism last year, 2022. This is indeed a commendable effort and achievement by all of you, the other sister Services, stakeholders and indeed our able predecessors,” he said.
He, however, noted that despite such efforts, “we are not relenting. Rather, we are even channeling more efforts towards consolidating on these successes in order to completely neutralise insurgents that fail to surrender.”
The Army Chief said troops have intensified offensive operations to eliminate armed bandits and other criminal elements in the North West and North Central regions which have equally yielded positive results.
He noted that such operations have destroyed criminal hideouts, neutralized several bandits and subjected the remaining elements to situations where they are mostly either targeting civilians or on the run. “We must therefore maintain the tempo and leave no stone unturned to sustain these commendable efforts”.
He commended troops for ensuring peaceful conduct of general elections across the country including in the South East despite the sense of insecurity created by criminal elements in the region particularly IPOB/ESN.
He said troops efforts through Joint Task Force Operation UDO KA paid off in the South East “ensuring successful elections in the region as well, even though, long before the actual elections, IPOB/ESN and their supporters had threatened that there would be no elections in the zone”.
He restated that troops’ operations and decisive actions against the criminal elements have impacted positively on the security situation in the region, giving confidence to law-abiding citizens in the South East.
“Let me state here that elections or no elections, neither IPOB/ESN nor any other group, groups or individuals should threaten the integrity of this Nation as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Accordingly, elections were therefore held in the South East and successfully too, just like other parts of the country”.
He therefore restated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to continue to perform its constitutional roles in collaboration with the sister Services and other security agencies as well as civil authorities in the region.
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