DHQ: Security Forces Soon to Declare Victory in War against Insurgency

*Troops vanquish 73 terrorists, arrest 182 others

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The military high command said yesterday that the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) would soon declare victory in the ongoing war against insurgency, going by the progress made so far.
It said the security forces were ahead of non-state actors, having secured the surrender of hundreds of thousands of insurgents in the North-east.
At a media briefing in Abuja, Director, Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Maj Gen Edward Buba, said the insurgency would soon be over.
“We are very much in the lead in the ongoing counter insurgency and counterterrorism operations in the country and that sooner than later the insecurity would be history.

“One of the top priorities of the armed forces is to secure the country and protect citizens from harm caused by these terrorists and extremists across the country. Accordingly, the military is actively working to achieve this mandate”, he said.
He said operations in the last one week resulted in 73 neutralised terrorists with 182 of them arrested.

He said troops also arrested 14 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 68 kidnapped hostages.
In the South-south, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of N1.2 billion.

“It is worthy of mention that the armed forces are in the lead in the ongoing country insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the country.
“Significantly, these operations have killed or captured several terrorists, extremist leaders, their facilitators, key associates and numerous of their foot soldiers.
“Relatedly, the ongoing surgical operations recently embarked upon have thrown these evil elements into a state of complete disarray due to the precision of the operations.

“The terrorist and extremist alike are now perplexed and suffocated with little or no hiding place. It is now a question of sooner than later before it would be too late for most of them”, he said.
Buba noted that ”during the week and in collaboration with our foreign partners, “the military conducted a surgical operation targeted at the residence of an ISWAP terrorist commander in Niger State.

“Several arrests and discoveries were made as a result of the operation. However, being an ongoing operation not much can be revealed at this stage. Nevertheless, one thing is certain, the operation is just one of several others to flush out the terrorists.

“The message is clear to all. You are either on the side of Nigerians and the armed forces, or against us in the fight against terrorists and extremist”, he said.