Standup9ja: Nigerian Army Declares War Against Bandits
Terrorising Southern Kaduna
The Nigerian Army on Wednesday declared war against armed
bandits in the southern part of Kaduna State as it launched an operation
tagged: ‘Operation Harbin Kunama II’ to tackle the menace of herdsmen in that
part of the State.
Speaking at the event which held in Kafanchan, the
headquarters of Jama’a Local Government Area, the Chief of Army Staff
(COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, said
there would no longer be any hiding place for armed bandits in the state.
The COAS stated that the aim of the exercise is to ensure
that southern Kaduna area is kept safe.
“I know it has
been in the press and it has generated a lot of interest. But we are determined
to shoulder the major responsibility of keeping the peace always and it is better
to do this job than to leave it until it goes out of hand. God forbid,” he
said.
Buratai further said that the exercise is a remarkable
experience to the one that took place last year, adding that “I have seen
confidence in all the officials that have briefed us and I have seen
improvements in their understanding of the environment.”
He said the army would continue to coordinate its activities
to ensure that communities understand each other so as to provide the needed
security and the right atmosphere for economic and social activities to thrive.
Scores of Nigerians have been killed in the past five years
by herdsmen while property estimated at billions of naira were destroyed.
The federal government, had in December last year, deployed
troops and the police to the area to stop the mayhem, but the killings have
continued with the recent one that claimed 12 lives in Asso village last
Saturday.
Also speaking, the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai, said he was delighted by the effort of the Chief of Army Staff to
launch the operation.
“This operation is
very important because this problem in Southern Kaduna has attracted high
levels of attention not just because of the gravity of the situation here, I
think there are more serious crisis in other parts of the country, but this one
has been given religious and ethnic coloration,” he said.
El-Rufai expressed confidence that with the operation, the
bandits that have been attacking farmers will finally be neutralised so that
farming activities will resume as the rains approaches.
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