The Defence Headquarters says it had deployed troops to assist the police in ensuring a smooth off-cycle Ondo governorship election slated for November 16.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba made this known in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
Buba said the presence of troops was to ensure the security of citizens, enable them to cast their votes without any form of harassment or intimidation, and keep mischief-makers at bay.
He added that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) was already flying sensitive election material in support of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, troops are on an onslaught to crush terrorists in the NW and other parts of the country.
“Accordingly, operations are being modified to box in these terrorists while also increasing operational intensity to ensure the destruction of all terror groups and dismantling of their terror networks.
Buba said the troops had, during the week under review, neutralized 88 terrorists and apprehended 228 persons.
He added that troops also nabbed 40 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages during the week.
“Others are 1,807 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 314 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 146 rounds of 7.62mm PKM ammo, 77 rounds of 9mm ammo, 49 live cartridges, 25 magazines, two baofeng radios, 16 vehicles, 35 motorcycles, 27 mobile phones and the sum of N1.8 million amongst other items,” he said.
Buba said that troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 13 crude oil cooking ovens, 20 dugout pits, 73 boats, 25 storage tanks, and 59 illegal refining sites during the week.
He added that three barges, seven speedboats, 73 drums, one tricycle, five pumping machines, three mobile phones, and nine vehicles, among other things, were also recovered.
According to him, troops recovered 942,420 litres of stolen crude oil, 175,075 litres of illegally refined AGO and 4,980 litres of PMS.
“Overall, troop offensives have severely depleted ISWAP terrorist rank and file in the North East, forcing a desperate recruitment drive. Similarly, terrorists in the North West are on a recruitment drive on social media for recruits. Troops are aware of the situation and working with other security agencies and governments to thwart the plans,” he added.
