By Chidiebere Ugwu
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja in a proactive move, recently flagged off various exercises across the geopolitical zones in the country to mitigate surge of insecurity in the months dovetailing to the end of the year 2023.
Brigadier General, Onyema Nwachukwu, the Director Army Public Relations, in a statement, said these exercises are already yielding positive results, as troops of 16 Brigade on Exercise STILL WATERS III successfully conducted a raid operation on a suspected cultists’ camp within Oloibiri oil field, at Otuabagi community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. During the operations, 8 members of the cultist group were nabbed in their hideout.
The troops also recovered from the cultists, one Baretta pistol, one locally made double barrel pistol, 5 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 3 live cartridges, one Baofeng communication radio, one binocular, 2 mobile phones and substance suspected to be cannabis.
The suspects are currently under custody undergoing further interrogation.
Similarly, troops of 4 Brigade on Exercise STILL WATERS III on 18 October 2023 responded to a distress call by a law abiding citizen, who reported a kidnap incident at Obagie community in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
The troops promptly swung into action and rescued one Miss Blessing Uwenze who was kidnapped by a criminal gang. Two members of the kidnap gang were arrested and taken into custody for further investigation. Items recovered from the suspects include 2 Semi Automatic Pump Action guns, 4 Live Cartridges, one mobile phone and fetish items.
The victim, Miss Blessing Uwenze has since been reunited with her family.
