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.
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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.
