……Says Troops kill Over 150 Terrorists, Other Criminals In Two Weeks
Despite growing concerns over the deplorable state of insecurity in the South East region of Nigeria, the Defence Headquarters has assured that there will be peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections in the region.
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This assurance was given by the Director, Defence Media Operation, Major General Musa Danmadami, on Thursday, at the Defence Headquarters during the bi-weekly briefing.
General Danmadami who spoke on several security issues including the 2023 general elections disclosed that over 150 terrorists have been killed by troops in different parts of the country within the past two weeks, adding that no Nigerian territory is under the control of terrorists.
According to him, “Operations are already going in South East; the operations have been rejuvenated. We have both Kinetic and non-kinetic in place. During the last election what is happening now happened and election went on in the region. The same thing will happen in the 2023 general elections. We cannot deny there won’t be one or two incidences but election would take place in South East and any other region in the country.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria would continue to remain apolitical. The Police are the lead agency when it comes to election in Nigeria, but we will continue to play our supportive roles. “
Danmadami also said there is no territory “under the control of terrorists” in the country.
“There is no territory under the control of the terrorists. Yes, we have pockets of them in several parts of the country and that is why we conduct operations on daily basis.”
He revealed that, over 150 terrorists and other criminal elements have been neutralized by troops, while over 266 Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists and their families have surrendered to troops.
This is as the Defence Headquarters refrained from making comments on the recent incident of miscalculated airstrikes in Nasarawa state. General Danmadami while answering questions from journalists said, the “military high command does not want to join issues with some persons on the matter.”
He stated that, “On Nasarawa and Benue we are not going to dwell on the issue, we will leave it the way it is. We are not going to join issues with anybody on that incidents, the Chief Executive officers of those states have spoken on the matter. We are not going to talk much on this issue.
“Like I said earlier on, operations are being carried out across the length and breadth of this country. So, I do not want to dwell on this incident or what is being reported in the press. But what I can tell you is that we are very professional in the conduct of our operations, they are also intelligence driven. Also, our code of conduct and standard of operation are in tandem with international best practices. I can assure you that we would continue to conduct operations in line with this, irrespective of what people are saying.
For Nasarawa and Benue, the governor has spoken on the issue and we would not want to go contrary to what he has said. If there are subsequent issues on that you will definitely hear from us.”
