By Attah Ede
The outgoing Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba on Thursday raised alarm over the systematic influx of foreign terror fighters into Nigeria from the Sahel region.
General Buba while speaking at a news conference in Abuja, Thursday said the Nigerian military viewed the situation as worrisome, saying that the military is very much conscious of its role and responsibility in ending insurgency and terrorism in the nation.
According to him, troops have continue to disrupt and eliminate all forms of resurgent terror attacks in the North-west and North-east, caused by the influx of foreign fighters from the Sahelian region.
He revealed that troops across all operational theatres killed no fewer than 156 terrorists, bandits and criminals, arrested 464, and rescued over 180 kidnapped hostages in one week.
“In the Niger Delta area, troops discovered and destroyed 46 illegal refining sites, 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, 56 storage tanks and apprehended 29 perpetrators of oil theft.
“We have denied oil thieves petroleum products worth over N623 million and recovered 219 weapons, as well as 2,871 ammunition within the period under review.
“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 PMS.
“Other items recovered include 28 boats, eight pumping machines, six speedboats, three outboard engines, six drums, eight motorcycles, one mobile phone and eight vehicles among others.”
He maintained that despite these successes, troops might record occasional tactical setbacks which is common place in any theatre of war, military’s strategic objective of breaking the terrorist will to fight remains resolute and unhindered.
General Buba appealed Nigerians to see security as everybody’s business and not that of the military,
He therefore called on Nigerians not to compromise on security, otherwise everyone’s security will be compromised
