Drop Your Arms, Military High Command Issues Stern Warning to Terrorists, Criminals, Bandits, Others Across

By Anthonia N. Okwuolise

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), has read a riot act and issued stern warning to terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements in the country, giving them ultimatum to immediately surrender to troops in various theatres of operations, or face death, as the military will no longer condone or tolerate criminal activities, henceforth.

The military high command also gave a fierce order to terrorists and their collaborators, to drop their arms and reintegrate into the society, to live a more meaningful life for themselves and their families or risk being crushed, if they failed to comply.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, disclosed this in a statement which chronicled military operations for the third
quarter of 2023.

He further revealed that military operations across the six geopolitical zones, from June to August 2023 led to the neutralising of about 814 terrorists and the arrest of 1,326 criminals.

He restated the resolve of the military to work tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of citizens.

Major General Buba further assured that the armed forces will not relent in applying strong military pressure on groups bent on undermining the national security of the country.

He also stated that it is clear that the terrorist and their cohorts can not win in the face of ongoing military pressure against them.

“Counter-insurgencyency and counter-terrorism operations of the armed forces across the country in the last three months demonstrated the will of the armed forces to defeat terrorist and other violent extremist groups including those who support and finance them. During the period under review, offensive operations and air strikes were conducted to hit these groups and the terrorists where it hurt them most. It is clear from our operations that the terrorist and their cohorts have sustained a significant number of casualties. They will certainly continue to sustain even more casualties as we move forward. The illusion by these groups to embark on terrorism or insurgency is laughable,” he said.

According to him, they have increasingly become more of a criminal organization, which is the reason they fight.

He said that the reason they fight is that they want to keep profiting from criminal activities such as illegal mining, kidnapping, cattle rustling, illegal levies on fishing and farming communities and all other unholy forms of criminal inclinations.

“Indeed, if these groups don’t come to the table in peace. We will ceaselessly
punish them with overwhelming military force. Those supporting them, have picked the wrong side and will face a similar fate as these criminals and murderers.

“Our operations across the six geopolitical zones from June to August 2023 reveal that we neutralized 814 terrorists and arrested 1,326 criminals. We arrested 42 kidnappers, 231 collaborators, 33 armed robbers, 80 cattle rustlers, 325 militias, 27 rails vandals, 73 gunrunners, 191 suspected oil thieves and rescued 721 kidnapped hostages,” he further revealed.

Major General Buba also informed that no fever than 4,560 terrorists and their families surrendered to troops within the period under review.

The Defence Spokesperson further revealed that the military recovered a total of 501 weapons, 3,577 livestock, 3,269 assorted
kinds of ammunition and 674 other equipment.

He gave breakdown of these arms and ammunition as follows: “117 AK47 rifles, one AK49 rifle, 5 revolvers, 28 fabricated rifles, 11 fabricated pistols, 57 Dane guns, 23 pistols, 24 pump action guns, 3 FN rifles, 3 GPMGs, one double barrel gun, one barrel pistol, one G3 rifle, 2 HK21 rifles one IED, 123 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 2,008 rounds of 7.62mm special, 30 rounds of 7.62mm x 39mm, 512 rounds of 7.62mm x 54mm, 190 rounds of 5.5mm, 39 rounds of 9mm, 29 rounds of PKM, and 19 cartridges.

He said that troops equally recovered one RPG tube, 3 hand grenades, one locally made hand grenade, one locally made bomb, 2 rifle butts, one AK47 barrel, one GMPG barrel, 2 MG links, 98 AK47 magazines, 2 G3 magazines, 2 FN magazines, 2 PKT magazines, 2 LMG magazines, 2 tear gas launchers, one bulletproof vest, 49 vehicles, 213 motorcycles, 48 bicycles, 69 mobile phones, 5 loafing radios, 4 woodland camouflages, 2 boots, 74 knives, 71 handsets, 11 laptops, 13 steering rods and pumps, 45 machetes and 25 jack knives.

Furthermore, troops recovered 213 motorcycles, 69 mobile phones, one bicycle, 10 machetes, and a pair of camouflage. ”

In the South-South geopolitical zone, the troops’ anti-oil theft operations resulted in the confiscation of 6,652,250 litres of stolen crude oil, 3,558,325 litres of illegally refined AGO, 288,650 litres of DPK65,600 PMS.

The seizure, which amounts to an estimated sum of N4 billion, was denied the oil thieves within the period.

Gen. Buba observed in the statement that the trust and cooperation from supportive groups being witnessed presently is unprecedented.

While noteing that the inputs from these groups are making a difference in the military operations, he encouraged citizens to know something and say something so the military will do something about it.