In their continued bid to degrade terrorists, criminals and make the country safe, Nigerian troops have neutralized 156, terrorists perpetrating insecurity in parts of the country, among other successes it recorded in one week.
The significant achievements recorded by the military was disclosed by the Director of the Defence Media Operations, DMO, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba on Thursday, while briefing defence correspondents in Abuja.
The press briefing which happened to be Buba’s last official assignment in interfacing with the media witnessed mixed emotions.
Speaking on the troops’ efforts in tackling insurgency across the country the director assured that the military is winning the war against insurgents.
“The military is committed to winning the war against terrorists and insurgency across the country”, he declared, adding, “This is demonstrated as troops are fighting with great effort, determination and sacrifice to bring about great results”.
Buba gave a breakdown of the achievements saying, “It is in light of the above that, during the period under review, troops neutralised 156 and arrested 464 persons.
“Troops also arrested 29 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Six Hundred and Twenty-Three Million Four Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand Three Hundred and Ninty Naira (N623,447,390.00) only.
Furthermore, troops recovered 219 assorted weapons and 2,871 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: one GPMG, 68 AK47 rifles, one AK56 rifle, 12 fabricated rifles, 4 FN rifles, 4 dane guns, 7 pump action guns, one foreign double barrel gun, 9 fabricated IEDs, 18 FN grenades, 6 RPG bombs, 27 magazines, 4 IEDs and making materials.
“Others are: 1,618 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 676 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 68 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo, 317 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 73 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 175 rounds of PKT ammo, one box of 12.7mm ammo, 25 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 10 vehicles, 42 motorcycles, 29 mobile phones amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, 56 storage tanks and 46 illegal refining sites.
“Troops also recovered 705,294 litres of stolen crude oil, 6,865 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,500 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS7. Other items recovered include 28 boats,8 pumping machines and 6 speedboats.
“Additional are:3 outboard engines, 6 drums, 8 motorcycles, one mobile phone and 8 vehicles among others.
“Overall, the military is profoundly conscious of its role and responsibility in ending insurgency and terrorism in the nation. Accordingly, troops are thwarting and eliminating forms of resurgent terror attacks in the NW and NE, caused by influx of foreign fighters from the Sahelian Region.
“Though troops might record occasional tactical setbacks which is commonplace in any theatre of war.
Our strategic objective of breaking the terrorist will to fight remains resolute and unhindered”.
He urged Nigerians to embrace security as every body’s business and not that of the military.
Hear him, “citizens must not compromise on security, otherwise everyone’s security is compromised”.
