The Defence Media Operations(DMO), said soldiers engaged in the counter terrorism war and other security operations across the country killed a total of 6,886 terrorists and other suspected criminals in 2023.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Edward, who made this known, said the soldiers arrested 6,970 suspects, rescued 4,488 kidnapped persons and recovered 3,320 assorted weapons and 39,075 assorted ammunition within the period.
Gen Buba, at a media briefing on the activities of the troops across the country in 2023, said that the efforts of the troops in the year led to the recovery of 100m litres of stolen crude oil and 60m litres of diesel.
According to him, “During the period, troops neutralised 6,886 terrorists and other criminal elements. Troops arrested 6,970 suspects, rescued 4,488 kidnapped hostages as well as recovered 3,320 assorted weapons and 39,075 assorted ammunition.
“Additionally, troops recovered 100,316,600 litres of crude oil, 60,339,426 litres of AGO, 3,465,450 litres of DPK, and 3,544,990 litres of PMS. ‘”
On the security situation in 2023, Buba listed banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, oil theft, secessionist agitations, and farmers/herders clashes as some of the major threats which was adequately handled by the troops and the security agencies.
Buba while noting that proliferation of small arms which came into the country as a result of the porous borders as well as local fabrication of arms led to the increase in the crime rate in 2023, however said the threat dynamics were defined along geo-political zones with some permeating across the regional lines.
He said kidnapping, armed robbery, communal clashes and cattle rustling were common across the six geopolitical zones.
Giving an update of military operations in the outgoing year, the DMO spokesman said “The predominant threat in the North Central and North West regions is armed banditry/terrorism while the Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State West African Province lingering insurgency remained the main threat in the North East region.
“The major threat in the South-East and South-West was the secessionist agitations of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and the Yoruba Nation respectively.
“The South-South region continued to experience oil theft, cultism, and youth restiveness. However, acts of criminalities such as kidnapping, armed robbery, communal clashes and cattle rustling were common across the geopolitical zones.”
He said “It is pertinent to point out that most security threats in the country were fueled by the proliferation of small arms exacerbated by the influx of illegal arms and ammunition through our porous borders and the preponderance of local arms fabrication factories in the country.
“Thus, the armed forces’ kinetic and non-kinetic efforts were geared towards tackling these threats in all the geo-political zones, ” Buba said.
Speaking on the recent attack in Plateau state by bandits on Christmas Eve and why the troops could not repel the attack, Gen. Buba said, “The distance between some of these villages and troops’ locations is over 90 kilometres and sometimes difficult to access because of the rugged terrain which is mostly inaccessible to vehicles.
“Thus, affecting the reaction time to incidents, except when there is credible intelligence before the attack.
According to him, “On the night of 23 December 2023, over 100 Marauding armed militants herders suspected to be mercenaries carried out a series of unprovoked attacks from multiple fronts on Kambarpeli village in Bokkos LGA of Plateau State while the locals were asleep. The militants unleashed mayhem on the villagers before the arrival of troops to the location.
“Similarly, on 24 December 2023, at about 1900 hrs, troops received a total of 36 distress calls from diverse locations simultaneously. The distress calls reported a series of coordinated attacks by armed militant herders on isolated villages in Bokkos and part of Barkin Ladi LGAs of Plateau State.
“Troops responded to the calls and were able to intervene in 19 villages forcing the militants to withdraw. Unfortunately, the havoc had been committed before troops arrived at the other villages, ”
Answering journalists questions on the letters by bandits to residents of Bokos of an impending attack, Gen. Buba while assuring that the military would not fold its arm to allow such threats never occur again in the state, said the military has put tight security measures in place to ensure the lapses that enabled the last attacks do not repeat itself again.
He said “We are aware of the letters and we are doing something. We seriously going after those who perpetrated the crime.”
“Attacks on Plateau will never repeat itself. We have put modalities in place to ensure that Whatever limited us the last time that did not allow us to get to some of these locations on time has been eliminated”. (Sun)