The Nation Newspaper

Tag: soldiers

  • …soldiers search for gang’s armoury in Kokori

    …soldiers search for gang’s armoury in Kokori

    Soldiers of the 3 and 222 battalions of the Nigerian Army yesterday continued scheduled patrol of Kokori and environs in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State a frenetic effort to uproot the remaining members of the criminal gang led by notorious kidnap kingpin, Kelvin Ibruvwe.

    It was gathered that the troops are after the armoury and arsenals left behind in the community by the fleeing gunmen.

    No fewer than 10 military vehicles and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) were involved in Friday’s operation, which lasted for about five hours – from 10am to 3pm.

    Reports that could not be independently confirmed indicated that three persons were arrested in the Friday’s operation. Continued from Page 2

    It will be recalled that scores of armed youths from Kokori were feared killed when they clashed with troops on Wednesday afternoon, in the wake of Kelvin’s arrest in a hotel in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    A bloody clash ensued when troops deployed to secure the town, came under intense gunfire, especially around Market Road and Hon Sunday Odje Avenue junction of the town.

    However, security sources at the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army told our reporter on Friday night that the military had taken control of the community.

    Our source said there were concerns that the arms left behind by the fleeing hoodlums could be used to unleash further mayhem if they are not uncovered and confiscated.

    “We have, to a large extent, rid the town of the trouble makers, but there is the need to mop up arms and ammunition in the area and to ensure that the pockets of resistant left do not regroup to cause mayhem in the community.

    Our independent investigation revealed that there was still tension in the area in spite of the prevailing semblance of peace.

    Business places, schools and churches in the community remained shut on Friday. The few remaining residents mainly stayed indoors and peeped at the happenings in their ravaged environment.

    A team of Red Cross led by Ethiope East LGA Coordinator, Dr. Atakpo, was yet to access the trouble spot at the time of this report on Friday night. The team arrived Isiokolo in a Volkswagen ambulance with registration number BKW 251 AA

    Dr Atakpo later told our reporter on telephone that the team decided to stay back after reaching Isiokolo, headquarters of the LGA because of concerns about their safety.

    Meanwhile, some embattled indigenes of Kokori community have lamented the criminalisation of the community on the account of the activities of the notorious kidnapper.

    A leader of the community, in a telephone interview with our reporter, lamented that media reports tend to portray the entire community as kidnappers aiding and abetting of criminals.

    He said, “It is very sad that every Kokori indigene has been regarded as shielding the notorious gang of Kelvin. You are aware of what happened to those who rendered information.

    “Even as big as Benin City is at the time of Anini, people were also afraid of mentioning his name or making information available. So people should not blame Kokori people or regard them as those shielding Kelvin. Nobody wants to die an untimely death,” our source, who asked not to be mentioned for security reasons, added.

    Nevertheless, it was gathered that the lure of sharing in oil windfall promised by Kelvin informed the huge presence of local women, youth and children in the infamous rally of September 18.

    It will be recalled that women of the Urhobo community in the widely circulated rally danced and sang along with masked armed-bearing youths, who paraded themselves as members of Liberation Movement of Urhobo People (LIMUP) on the fateful day.

    “As for the rally, it is poverty and ignorance (that made the people come out en mass). It was announced to them that oil money was going to be shared on that day.

    “Those who attended the rally were illiterate women and children (who believed the oil money story),” our source stated.

  • Kenyan soldiers return fire for fire to free hostages

    Kenyan soldiers return fire for fire to free hostages

    Kenyan security forces have launched an assault on the Westgate shopping complex in the capital Nairobi in an attempt to break the three-day siege.

    Sporadic gunfire is continuing at the mall, where suspected al-Shabab militants remain holed up.

    The Kenya Defence Forces said three “terrorists” had been killed and all escape routes sealed off, with troops now focusing on clearing the building.

    The official death toll stands at 62 and more than 170 have been injured. Prominent Ghanaian poet Kofi Awonoor died in the atatck. He was in Nairobi for a literary event.

    The Somali Islamist al-Shabab movement has said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia.

    A number of countries are believed to have offered assistance to the Kenyan authorities currently dealing with the siege at the Westgate Mall.

    Kenya is seen as a largely pro-Western country in a strategically important continent that is facing growing instability from the threat of Islamic extremism.

    Kenya has also been a target for Western interests in the past – most notably the 1998 attack on the US embassy in Nairobi carried out by al-Qaeda.

    However, at present, Kenya’s forces are taking the lead in the hostage crisis. If there is any involvement by foreign nations it’s likely to be in a purely advisory role. It has already been reported that Israeli “security specialists” are on the ground in Nairobi giving advice, though it has not officially been confirmed.

    Even if foreign forces are giving advice or even more, the Kenyan authorities are unlikely to want to give the impression that they can not deal with this crisis themselves.

    There were earlier reports of sustained gunfire and dozens of Kenyan troops were seen crossing the road into the Westgate centre, from where a thick plume of black smoke was billowing.

    The Kenyan security forces (KDF) said the fire had been started by “terrorists to distract the ongoing operation”, and that the blaze was being managed by firefighters.

    It said 10 bodies had been retrieved from the building in the last 24 hours. More than 200 civilians have been rescued, 65 of whom remain in hospital.

    The KDF said 11 of its soldiers had been injured during the stand-off.

    Earlier, police used tear gas to disperse crowds of onlookers gathered close to the Westgate Centre.

    The Interior Ministry warned said in a tweet: “We are pleading with you, #WestGateMall is a scene of crime. For your own safety keep off that area. Roads leading there have been cordoned.”

    Security has also been stepped up at entrance and exit points across the country, with “more than 10 individuals” arrested in relation to the attack, the ministry said.

     

     

  • 20 soldiers die in gunfight with Boko Haram

    20 soldiers die in gunfight with Boko Haram

    No fewer than 20 soldiers have died in a clash between troops and Boko Haram members in Kafia Forest in Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State.

    The clash, which occurred between Friday and the early hours of Saturday, allegedly led to the death of one of the wanted leaders of the sect, Abba Goroma.

    Two other commanders of the sect were allegedly arrested by the troops.

    The alleged killing of Goroma and arrest of two commanders could not be independently confirmed as the Boko Haram leadership was yet to issue an official statement as at press time on the encounter.

    A military source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said the incident followed a raid of a Boko Haram camp by troops.

    The source said: “The Boko Haram terrorists were known to be regrouping in large numbers in Kafia Forest. When we secured a report on the newly found camp, the troops stormed the place.

    “The storming of the camp was complemented with air raid. Following heavy air assault, the terrorists were forced to relocate. But with sophisticated weapons, the terrorists started fighting troops as they were escaping.

    “So, there were casualties on both sides. In the process of the raid, one of the wanted Boko Haram leaders, Abba Gurama, was reportedly killed.

    “Two other commanders were arrested. We are still combing Kafia Forest to get at the insurgents who might still be hiding there. We will also use the opportunity to take stock of the casualty figures.”

    Asked if the troops were actually ambushed, the source said: “From field report at our disposal, the soldiers were not ambushed. The raid was at the instance of the troops following intelligence report.”

    The Defence Spokesman, Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “So far, the casualty figure of troops is less than 20. Many terrorists were also killed by troops.

    “We are still combing the forest to ascertain if there were more deaths. You should expect more update.”

    The defunct Joint Task Force in Borno had on November 23, 2012 placed a N10million ransom on Abba Goroma, who was feared killed in the clash at Kafia Forest.

     

  • Terrorism: Army urges soldiers to be on alert

    THE Brigade Commander of the 23rd Armoured Brigade, Gen. Fattai Oladipo Alli, has urged military personnel of the brigade to be on alert at all times.

    Alli spoke in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, during the decoration of six Lieutenants to the rank of Captains and three Second Lieutenants to full Lieutenants.

    He said the soldiers in the command should be alert in these times of terrorism.

    The general told the newly promoted officers that there was need for them to know the nitty-gritty of their profession.

    According to him, the officers must never assume but strive to know every detail of information.

    Alli said Nigeria is facing critical security challenges, adding that officers from the ranks of lieutenant and captain should remain on alert to curb terrorism from the land.

     

  • Soldiers raid terrorists’ hideout

    A suspected hideout of insurgents at Gidan Igwai area in Sokoto was raided yesterday by officers and men of the 1 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Sokoto.

    The Brigade spokesman, Captain Yahaya Musa, confirmed the raid to newsmen.

    According to him: “The operation was conducted as part of the ongoing efforts to rid Sokoto State of the fleeing insurgents from volatile areas like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, among others.”

    Musa explained the operation followed tip-offs from some good Samaritans in the city and its environs.

    He maintained that it was part of the routine operations of the army to cleanse Nigeria of insurgency and other criminal activities.

    According to him: “Sokoto is peaceful, but unfortunately insurgents from other parts of the country are fast making it a safe haven and we are battle-ready to dislodge them.

    “The operation by the army would be sustained and intensified just like our sister security organisations are also doing theirs, nationwide.

    “I cannot, however, confirm any fatalities as at now but scores of arrests had been made whose details would be made available later”.

    Musa commended residents for their support and cooperation, urging them to sustain the trend.

     

  • Old soldiers, new battle

    ‘A lie may travel for donkey years but truth overtakes it in a flash – Yoruba proverb’  

     

    Were Chinua Achebe still alive, he probably would have brewed another classic, brimming with sardonic humour and laconic wit, from the July 18 launch in Lagos of The Tragedy of Victory, Brig-Gen. Godwin Alabi-Isama’s Civil War (1967-1970) memoirs.

    The new war account recounts the exploits of the Third Marine Commando (3MCODO), mostly under the formidable Brig-Gen. (then Col.) Benjamin Adekunle aka Black Scorpion, who attained both heroic and mythical status on the Nigerian side during that war.

    Brig-Gen. Alabi-Isama (then Lt. Col) was Adekunle’s chief of staff. The author, ace strategist and military tactician, saw almost every inch of battle on the Atlantic Front, which proved pivotal and decisive in swinging the pendulum of victory and defeat.

    Still, any literary wit with Biafra sympathies, having read There was a Country, Prof Achebe’s bitter swansong, could easily, “serves-them-right” manner, have turned the July 18 event into Nigeria’s own Tower of Babel, where Nigeria’s own victorious generals, under the tragically ironic banner of Tragedy of Victory, fall upon themselves in ferocious verbal combat.

    Even more grippingly ironic is Gen. (then Col.) Olusegun Obasanjo, as personal metaphor of “tragedy of victory”. Obasanjo (as his name Olusegun, Yoruba for “The Lord has conquered”, suggests) took the Biafra instrument of surrender as final 3MCODO commander, after the more formidable Black Scorpion. On that, he was an immaculate victor.

    But the tragic victor birthed when it was revealed that the all-conquering general, self-hyped to high heavens in My Command (1980), Obasanjo’s Civil War account, is the same that also reportedly fled for dear life from enemy fire, allegedly receiving bullet wounds in his rump!

    Whether that allegation was true or not (Col. Oyinlade Iluyomade, aka Hitler, commander of the troops involved in that particular battle insisted it was), the war hero, military era head of state and first elected president of the 4th Republic, became the butt of hilarious jokes at the venue! That would count as a personal tragedy of victory.

    But there is also a corporate side to that victorious tragedy.

    The near-unanimity of opinions, among the gathered generals, was that Obasanjo, by craftily rigging the Biafra armistice to be a one-man show, gypped other war commanders of earned glory, thus somewhat echoing the perfidious tortoise that renamed himself “All of you”, in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

    Factor in Alabi-Isama’s allegation that Obasanjo, as military head of state, conspired with Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, his chief of army staff, to boot him out of the army after only 17 years, and the perfidious tortoise’s parallel comes to the fore. Alabi-Isama, from his war account, was one of the 3MCODO brain boxes that did the dirty work before Obasanjo came to claim the glory.

    Obasanjo rather viciously rubbed it in, in My Command, in which he emerged the sole super-hero, leaving the other commanders gasping behind as super-villains or just simple nincompoops – a claim the pair of Alabi-Isama and Lt-Gen. Alani Akinrinade, and indeed the armada of generals and other old soldiers at the launch, dismissed as voodoo tales!

    Danjuma, chair and chief presenter at the launch, denied there was any anti-Alabi-Isama conspiracy, insisting that though he couldn’t recall the details, he had documents to show that whatever happened “followed due process”.

    The tragedy of victory was also apparent from the after-war career trajectory of the triumvirate of Adekunle, Alabi-Isama and Akinrinade, the hardy trio that faced the hottest parts of the war and prevailed with uncommon brilliance.

    Adekunle who, according to Wikipedia, renamed 3 Infantry Division 3MCDO, without even formal approval from army headquarters, suffered premature retirement in 1974 after only 16 years. He joined the army in 1958.

    As at the time Tragedy of Victory was launched, Gen. Adekunle was down with illness, prompting his first son, Abiodun, to solicit for support. Adekunle’s odyssey is not much different from the bulk of old soldiers at the occasion who complained of neglect, even after shedding blood to keep Nigeria one.

    Alabi-Isama himself was retired after only 17 years, following the conspiracy he alleged but which Danjuma denied.

    Only Akinrinade, of the trio, attained the apex of his career, not only becoming a three-star general as Lt-General, but also Second Republic’s first chief of army staff; and later chief of defence staff.

    Could the anti-Obasanjo armada then result from peer envy? That is possible, except that the adverse testimony of Gen. Akinrinade, measured, frank, candid and nuanced, both at the book launch and in his widely acclaimed interview with The Nation from the eve of the July 18 launch, did little to enhance Obasanjo’s cause.

    Akinrinade was Obasanjo’s chief operations officer that first met surrendering Biafra General Philip Effiong (who Danjuma jokingly dismissed as colonel in Nigeria, general in Biafra, to wide laughter and guffaw), at his Amichi last war headquarters.

    Still, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s war-time commander-in-chief, did not share the near-unanimous belief that Obasanjo stole anyone’s glory by claiming the instrument of surrender, even while he was far away in his Port Harcourt headquarters, when Akinrinade mid-wifed the surrender.

    “As the Commanding Officer assigned to command the Division that received the instrument of surrender from Biafra,” Gen. Gowon declared in a supplement Foreword to go with the second edition of the new book, “Gen. Obasanjo rightfully was positioned to claim victory on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”

    That coming from Gowon, though logical, was rare grace, compared with the nasty stuff Obasanjo wrote in his Not My Will, about his former commander-in-chief, following the unfortunate event of 13 February 1976: the abortive coup that claimed the life of Gen. Murtala Muhammad and propelled Obasanjo to his first coming as military head of state.

    In Not My Will, Obasanjo, with exquisite bad grace, talked down on his old commander-in-chief, pillorying him as “Mr. Gowon”, tagging him with “duplicity and complicity” and celebrating his hurried “dismissal” (later reversed by 2nd Republic President Shehu Shagari) from the military – all these over mere suspicion of his alleged involvement in the Bukar Sukar Dimka coup!

    Now, who is this Nigeria, the heartless errant-lady whose troubadours-general kill themselves to protect; and yet who rewards almost each and everyone with disgrace and hurt?

    This is the crisis of Nigeria’s nationhood which, as Gen. Akinrinade correctly said, even the Civil War did not resolve.

    But at the launch, Gen. Danjuma, a tad insensitive but with martial elegance, proclaimed: “Though they said there was no victor or no vanquished, all I know is that we won the war”!

    We? Won?

    Forty-three years after the war, every Nigerian would appear a loser – not the least the generals – and would continue to be until Nigeria’s fundamental contradictions are resolved by restructuring the country along equitable and development lines.

    If Tragedy of Victory rams in this notorious fact, it would do a future patriotic duty just as it has done a past one by putting the records straight on the Nigerian Civil War.

  • Soldiers everywhere

    Soldiers everywhere

    •Dasuki revelation of soldiers’ presence in 28 states shows the militarisation of our democracy

    National Security Adviser Mr. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki made a startling revelation when he said that soldiers’ presence is actively felt in 28 states of the federation. The deployment of troops is the government’s answer to the increasing security challenges posed by terrorists, armed robbers, kidnappers and other anti-social elements making life unbearable for law-abiding citizens. But is this the right solution to the problem? We are afraid ‘no’. Yes, Nigerians know that soldiers are on the streets in many parts of the country, but not in their wildest imagination could they have thought the soldiers’ presence was anything near what Mr Dasuki revealed.

    Speaking at a session on National Civil-Military Dialogue in Ajuji Hotel, Abuja, the national security adviser noted that: “The past decade has witnessed multiple forms of unrest —from armed robbery, kidnapping, electoral, communal to ethno-religious violence …Currently, we are battling with insurgency and terrorism. This has raised the flag of security demands to levels higher than we have witnessed since the civil war. It has meant that the military are seeing more deployments in aid of civil authority than anticipated”.

    No doubt soldiers can be called to assist civilian authority to check civil disobedience; that should be only when the police can no longer cope. In other words, they should be the last resort. But what we are witnessing in the country, 14 years after our return to democratic rule, has been an increasing reliance on the military for internal security and to quell insurgencies in parts of the country. It is as if the government has passed a vote of no confidence on the Nigeria Police.

    Mr. Dasuki captured the scenario concisely: “… Policing the domestic arena is not the duty of the military, whose training is directed against external enemies of the state. However, our recent history has seen the military in joint activities with other para-military outfits currently in about 28 states”. That military presence in a democratic setting should be a routine as it is in the country now is enough cause for concern. A situation where soldiers are visible on the streets in 28 of our 36 states is unacceptable.

    We ought to have learnt our lessons from soldiers’ expeditions in Odi, Bayelsa State, Gbaramutu, also in the Niger Delta region, and other places where they left in their trail tales of tears and sorrow. As a matter of fact, some of the country’s leaders in power at the various times when these atrocities were committed by soldiers in the process of quelling civil disobedience should be answering charges at the International Court of Justice if what happened had taken place in some other climes. But soldiers cannot be blamed entirely for the actions because they are not trained to handle such crises.

    Aside the huge price we have had to pay during such expeditions, the fact is that, as the national security adviser said at the occasion, deployment of troops for such internal crises has robbed the military of its professionalism and has led to avoidable frictions between the soldiers and the civilian populace. How, for instance, is professionalism enhanced if soldiers are sent to ensure free and fair elections? Chances are such assignments will put them in direct contact with people with all kinds of intentions; thus, they (soldiers) could easily be compromised in the process.

    What we are saying in essence is that the government must face the reality by giving the police the desired attention. Whatever gains we think we are making by using soldiers for duties they are not trained to handle will pale into insignificance if only we are able to quantify in monetary terms what we are losing to their involvement in civil duties. We reject Dasuki’s plea that Nigerians should accept the military presence as a necessity. On the contrary, it is the government that should do what is required to make the police force more efficient.

     

  • Court martial of 20 soldiers for leaking information to Boko Haram begins

    The court martial of soldiers over their involvement in giving information to Boko Haram and other acts of misconduct has begun at the 3 Armouured Division, Maxwell Khoba Cantonment, Rukuba, Jos, Plateau State.

    The trial is being conducted behind closed doors. Reporters who were invited to witness last week’s inauguration of the court martial panel by GOC 3 Div., Major General Ebiobowei Awala, were barred from the trial which started on Tuesday.

    Although 18 accused soldiers including an officer, a Lieutenant, were present during the inauguration of the panel, there are 20 names on the list of those charged.

    The suspects are accused of committing offences collectively and individually against the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the course of carrying out their professional assignment.

    The suspects are serving at military formations under the 3 Armoured Division.

    Most of them are serving in the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri code named “Pperation Restore Order” and the Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crises code named “Operation Safe Haven”

    Major General Awala during the inauguration of the court martial said the suspects were investigated for various offences ranging from “communication with the enemy, cowardly behaviours, murder to manslaughter, among others”.

    It was learnt that the offences might not be far from acts against rule of military engagement during the invasion of civilian population in Baga, Borno State by men of the JTF “Operation Restore Order”.

    Some of the accused soldiers are those said to be leaking security information to agents of Boko Haram in Maiduguri when troops were massively deployed in the area following the declaration of a state of emergency in three Northeast states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – in May

    It was gathered that during the first sitting of the panel on Tuesday, two of the accused soldiers Audu Adamu of the 33 Brigade Bauchi and Sabo Sadiq of the STF Jos – pleaded not guilty to the charges read to them.

    Leading a team of counsel to defend Adams is Mr. James Attah Adokwu, a lawyer.

    Adokwu told our correspondent after the session that his client had been “slammed with two offences”.

    He said he observed that the two charges were duplicated, “So we are already on course and I have all it takes to defend my client and make sure justice is done.”

    After taking the case of the two accused persons, the panel adjourned for three days to reconvene tomorrow for continuation of the hearing.

  • Gunmen kill two soldiers in Kaduna village attack

    Two soldiers were killed yesterday when some gunmen engaged security operatives, including soldiers, in an exchange of gunfire in Kwasakwasa village, 70 kilometres from Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State.

    The incident came four days after an attack on three villages in the area and barely 24 hours after Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero visited the area.

    The governor had promised that the government would collaborate with neigbouring Zamfara and Niger states to tackle persistent attacks in the area.

    The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, One Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Col. Sani Kukasheka, confirmed the incident.

    He said there was an encounter between soldiers and gunmen.

    The Army spokesman said he was attending a programme in Jaji, Kaduna State, when the incident occurred.

    Kukasheka said: “Yes, I can confirm to you that there was an encounter between our soldiers and insurgents in Birnin Gwari. A number of the assailants were killed. Unfortunately, we also sustained two casualties. Details later. Thank you.”

    The latest attack on the village, which sources said was repelled by security agents, occurred at 6am yesterday.

    It was learnt that some vehicles belonging to the security operatives were burnt during the attack.

    The source, who said several villagers and security men were injured in the attack, hailed the soldiers deployed in the area for their bravery.

    He added that the boldness displayed by the security agents helped in repelling the invaders.

    The casualty figure among the gunmen could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report yesterday.

    However, the source said the Chairman of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, Alhaji Idris Alhassan, was on hand to convey the victims to Birnin Gwari General Hospital.

  • Emergency: Soldiers rescue nine women, children held hostage by Boko Haram

    Emergency: Soldiers rescue nine women, children held hostage by Boko Haram

    Freedom came yesterday for six children and three women held as ransom by the Boko Haram Islamist sect in Bama, Borno State.

    The captives were rescued by Federal troops who overran three camps of the sect in Sambisa forest, a stretch of 16-kilometre uncultivated mass of trees and shrubs in central Borno, the Defence Headquarters announced yesterday.

    Three other captives–a woman and her two children– were, however, missing. The authorities said a search was on to locate them.

    The captives were all seized at the Bama Police Station by the insurgents when they invaded the town on May 7.

    No fewer than 50 people were killed during the invasion.

    Several houses were also set ablaze by the sect’s members who also attacked the prison in the town and set about 100 inmates free.

    The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olubolade, told journalists in Abuja that the women and children were rescued by the Special Forces.

    He showed reporters a video recording and photographs of the freed hostages.

    The abducted women and children were shown in a recent You Tube video by the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.

    Olukolade was silent on Shekau’s whereabouts.

    He said the harsh conditions of the forest must have taken a toll on the yet-to-be-found mother and her two children.

    The Major General Lawrence Ngubane–led operational assessment team raised by the Defence Headquarters said in a report that all the terrorist camps in northern and central Borno had been neutralised by the federal troops.

    The video clips showed what the DHQ described as a makeshift clinic of the insurgents, their destroyed camps in the forest, operational vehicles, fuel and water storage tanks. Olukolade said some of the vehicles and other property were set ablaze by the terrorists themselves before fleeing.

    The video clips also showed the troops in friendly interactions with residents of communities in some of the localities under the emergency rule.

    Olukolade said the troops had been adhering strictly to the rules of engagement, adding that no civilian casualty had been recorded.

    In a message to the troops, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, commended them for demonstrating a high level of professionalism in the operations.

    He said the feat performed by the soldiers was a major achievement in the process of restoring normalcy to communities hitherto held captive by the insurgents.

    Ibrahim enjoined them to continue to adhere strictly to the rules of engagement and operational codes of conduct, stressing that the exercise was a major test case on the capacity of the security forces to manage the nation’s security challenges.

    He said: “Troops must not make themselves vulnerable. Those who carry arms against the state and citizens are the ones we are fighting against.

    “Troops must exhibit a high standard of commitment and discipline in all steps taken during this operation. This is not an exercise but a real operation.”

    Admiral Ibrahim expressed the confidence that the terrorists would be defeated in record time, considering the superiority of the troops in terms of training and support from Nigerians.