Major General Hassan Dada, the new General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Enugu, has pledged that all non-state actors will be pursued and that all forms of criminality in the area will be swiftly put an end.
Dada revealed this on Friday after assuming his new position as the GOC 82 Division during a familiarization visit to Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State at the Government House in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
According to him, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, has given him a marching order to end insecurity in the South-East without further delay.
The new GOC, in his address, said his major assignment in the South-East was to stamp out criminality and put an end to all the barbaric killings in the region as directed by the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army.
While emphasising that his team would do all it takes to ensure that peace returns to the South-East, he appealed for the support of the Imo governor and indigenes of the state to achieve this feat.
In his remarks, Uzodimma reiterated the need to restore peace and put an end to insurgency in the South-East.
He also spoke on the negative effect of the illegal sit-at-home orders as well as the need to extradite the Finland-based separatist, Simon Ekpa, promising the new GOC and his team his support and that of the people of Imo State.
In a similar vein, the governor met with traditional rulers and community leaders at the headquarters of the Traditional Rulers Council in Owerri where he called for their support in stemming the tide of insecurity and supporting the government and security agencies in fighting crime.
He urged them to shun any sit-at-home order and go about their lawful businesses.
The governor also used the opportunity to disclose the numerous intervention programmes and incentives lined up from the state and federal governments to cushion the economic effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
These two important meetings came a few hours after the leader of the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, through his counsel, directed Simon Ekpa to refrain from issuing any sit-at-home order in the South-East under any guise.