The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede on Wednesday ordered the army troops deployed to the Baruten and Kaiama local government councils of Kwara state and that of Borgu in Kainji forest in Niger state to flush out bandits presently terrorising the people of the affected areas within one month.
It would be recalled that a new terrorist group, identified as “Mahmuda” had recently surfaced in Kaiama and Baruten local government areas of Kwara state while seven persons were killed by a yet to be identified group in Ilesha Baruba in Baruten local government area of Kwara on Monday.
Lt. General Oluyede gave the marching order in Ilorin, Kwara state capital while addressing a troop at the 22 Armoured Brigade, Sobi Cantonment, Ilorin, the state capital.
He said that the Nigerian army will not allow the insurgency in the north east to escalate to the north central.
According to him, “it is the responsibility of the Nigerian Army to protect the territorial integrity of the nation”.
He stated that “no single part of the territory would be allowed to integrate or be taken away by insurgents in any form either in form of bandits or Boko Haram or whatever name they may call it”.
The Chief of Army Staff who inspected the military guard of honour at the 22 Armoured Brigade, Sobi Cantonment said “I’m giving you one month from now to recover all territory in Baruten, Kaiama and other areas in Kainji forest to the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
He said that the bandits must be flushed out of the Nigerian territory in the next one month.
“All of you have promised to fight and recover whatever the insurgents might have taken from the country and I believe you will keep the promise”, he added
Oluyede who explained that he was going round the country to ensure that the country becomes better noting that “the country was having some challenges and we have to push the insurgents out of the country.
He pointed out further that, “In the next one month, I don’t want to see any one of the insurgents in our borders again.”
The Chief of Army Staff promised better welfare, feeding, education facilities uniform for members of the Armed forces adding “I want to see soldiers become good medical doctors, engineers and other professionals.
“We have tried to intervene in providing uniforms with provision of 100,000 units of Uniform per month while N1billion was being allocated to feeding for the soldiers on monthly basis and we have also improved the accommodation facilities”.
Hammed Shittu
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