By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has explained that the recent meeting by Chief of Defence Staff, General LEO Irabor with retired senior military officers from the South-West was part of the non-kinetic engagements aimed at discussing ways out of the current security challenges in the zone.
Acting Director, Defence Media Operation, Brigadier General Benard Onyeuko, made this known in Abuja on Thursday while briefing Defence Correspondents on the operational efforts and achievements bye the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the various theatres of operations between 18 and 30 June 2021.
He quoted the CDS as saying that the Armed Forces of Nigeria would continue to leverage the wealth of experience of the retired officers for the betterment of the Region and Nigeria in general, while affirming that the military had been reassessing its operational engagement on regular basis to improve the security of the Country.
According to Brigadier General Onyeuko, the interaction with the retired military officers held on June 24, 2021 was “part of efforts aimed at tracing root causes of security challenges in the Country and to tap from the wealth of experience and knowledge of the retired officers and other stakeholders.”
He said it was in the same vein that General Irabor, while unveiling Nigeria’s biggest flag in Ibadan, had called on Nigerians to be more united for the strength and progress of the Country.
The new flag, which was unveiled with the designer of the Nigerian flag, Pa Taiwo Akinkumi in attendance, covers an area of 3,275.6 square metres; a length of 75.3 metres and a width of 43.5 metres, was facilitated by Mr Babajide Ogunsanwo.
On Civil Military Cooperation activities, Brigadier General Onyeuko said the DHQ organized a 3-day skill acquisition training for veterans in Gombe from 23 – 25 Jun 21.
“This is sequel to the CDS directives to train retired military veterans in various skills to enable them engage in productive ventures rather than be tempted to avail their military skills to underserving elements. The exercise which was hitch free was conducted in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and the Small and Medium Development Agency,” he said.
Giving further updates, Onyeuko said that within the period under review, troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies conducted various land, maritime and air operations, stressing that the operations yielded attendant successes in the various theatres across the Country.
For instance, he said, a total of 73e Boko Haram Terrorists were eliminated by troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the North East Zone with 44 AK 47 rifles, 2 PKT, 7 Ant Aircraft guns, 7-gun trucks, several ammunition of different calibre as well as weapon cleaning materials, clothing, blankets, foodstuffs, vehicles, generators, IED materials, religious scripts and other items were recovered in the process.
“In another development on 27 June, a total of 55 escapees from terrorists’ camps comprising 15 adult males, 12 adult females and 27 children surrendered to own troops at Darajemel in Borno State,” he said.
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He assured Nigerians that the Armed Forces of Nigeria would not relent in its effort to fight all forms of criminalities until relative peace is returned to our dear Country.
“We will continue to intensify our operational efforts to deny criminals freedom of operation and will remain resolute to take decisive and adequate actions to abate all forms of criminalities and other vices in the Country,” he stated.
He said the Military High Command was impressed with the efforts of the troops for keeping up the tempo and was encouraging the general public to “support our efforts by providing credible and timely information that will facilitate our proactive engagements.”