By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), said that the quest by some entrenched interests to control mineral deposits in parts of the country is part of the underlining factors fueling terrorism and banditry in the country.
This is as the military hierarchy said that arrested terrorists are providing intelligence to support ongoing military operations in the Federal Capital Territory and environs.
The Director, of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made this disclosure while fielding questions from a Defence correspondent, during the 2024 first biweekly briefing in Abuja.
Nigeria, he said is in a state of war, and the military is working round the clock to flush out the enemies of state.
General Buba queried: “What are the causes of war in some climes? I urge you to go to your history books and read them, ours is no different. There is mineral under the ground, and some people want that minerals and to get that minerals, they plan to displace the host communities to have free access to the minerals. It is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, that is why we must understand that we are in a state of war. The more they take those minerals, the more they diminish what can come to us as a nation for development. Security is everybody’s business”.
READ ALSO:Betta Edu: Don’t spare anybody involved, Obi tells Tinubu
He noted that the aim of the ongoing military operations remains unchanged, which is to go after the terrorists wherever they may be hiding and destroy them.
“We believe that by destroying them, they will not be able to carry out terror on citizens and therefore, we would have a safer environment. In the case of FCT, and environs, as I speak to you, operations are ongoing at the identified locations. In the last week, we have arrested several of them and they are providing intelligence to support our operations. Concerning the conduct of soldiers as reported in some locations, I would say again as I had said before, we are a professional force and there is no room for indiscipline in the military. If any member of the military is found misbehaving, we urge the public to report. It is even easier now that there are social media, please video and send it to us and see if we would not act on it”.
On the terrorists crossing the road along the Abuja- Kaduna highway, he noted that troops effectively engaged the terrorists.
He, however, regretted that some civilians were caught up in the crossfire.
According to him, “These are the complexity of war. Like I said, as a military we aim to go after them, what makes them want to cross? It was because we were after them and they could not continue to hibernate in their enclaves. So they have to move out and in that process, we also engaged them. We are in a situation of war. Unfortunately, some civilians were caught up in the crossfire. We have to go after them and destroy them. It is only by destroying them that we are sure that they cannot terrorize innocent civilians”.
On the alleged arrest of the victims instead of perpetrators, after the Plateau killing, General Buba said, “This is how it works, sometimes we get a tip-off for which we operate. We have means which I cannot disclose here, but in the course of the investigation, if they are innocent we would release them but if they are not, we know what to do. Don’t forget this is asymmetric warfare. The enemy is not dressed in uniform, they are dressed like civilians, when the hit is on, they just go into society like civilians. We have them embedded within the society. We need to flush them out. It is the society that supplies them logistics and other operational enablers like petrol”.
