The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has charged troops of Operation Harbin Kunama 3 to be ruthless, aggressive and decisive against bandits in the North-West.
Buratai gave the charge when he visited the troops stationed at 1 Division Super Camp in Kuyello, Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Monday.
He urged them to remain focused in the operations and to act within the confines of the law and rule of engagement.
Buratai said that the Army would not tolerate any form of criminality and threat to peace and security in any part of the country, adding that the corporate existence of Nigeria must not be jeopardised.
“You must remain focused; you must be aggressive; you must be decisive and you must be ruthless just the way the criminals have been ruthless on the innocent lives. We will not spare them as well.
“The law must take its course more so if they are seen in the act, and indeed, carrying arms which is within the law and within the rule of engagement.
“We don’t have time to waste, we must develop, we must move ahead and we must keep our country secured.
“Nigeria is our country and we are ready at any time, to lay down our lives for the unity of our dear fatherland.
“We will not tolerate any group of bandits or terrorists or criminals to disturb our peace and any case of insecurity.
“The corporate existence of Nigeria as one country is a sacred responsibility that we must uphold at all times,” he said.
The army chief assured the troops of his commitment to their welfare on the field and in the barracks.
He also pledged to ensure that the troops were well equipped in terms of equipment and logistics to enable them to have successful operations.
Buratai explained that the super camp concept was developed to further consolidate on their operations in ensuring that the army dealt with security challenges bedevilling the country.
“So, we are happy with the results that we are having both in the North-East and in the North-West here. It is just like any other deployment actually.
“This time, instead of getting them decentralised, we have a more centralised element of a more centralised forces and it is one of the principles of war.
“You provide security for the forces as much as possible to deal with the security situations and that has been quite wonderful.
“In the past two to three weeks, there have been no major attacks in the North-East because of the new posture.
“Here, apart from some isolated remote areas as a result of so many other factors, the attacks have drastically reduced,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the camp located in Kuyello in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna state is at the borders of Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger and Katsina states.
Banditry activities have been prominent in Zamfara, Niger, Katsina and Kaduna states, prompting army authorities to launch Operation Harbin Kunama to tackle it.