Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, says terrorism, banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, and other security challenges can end sooner than expected in the country if all Nigerians offer their support to the military and other security agencies.
Buratai, who said this on Monday in an interview with State House reporters after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of the army in the North-Western part of the country, added that giving vital information about the whereabouts and movements of insurgents and bandits would help to contain the situation.
The army chief said what was needed was the cooperation of all and not complaints as the bandits, terrorists and those constituting nuisance to the society were mainly Nigerians.
Buratai said although securing the country is not an easy task, the army will continue to do its best in carrying out its task.
Buratai, who said the “worrisome situation” in the North-West was already improving due to steps taken by officers and men of the Nigerian Army in collaboration with other security agencies, lauded his men involved in the peacekeeping operation in the zone and other parts of the country for doing a good job.
He voiced optimism that normalcy would soon be restored to the affected areas.
Buratai, while reacting to questions on the task given to him and whether Nigeria could win this war, said: “these tasks are still ongoing and we will continue to deal with them. Securing our country is a task everybody knows, is to secure the country from any form of insecurity and in this case, you know the military task is very clear, to defend our country from external aggression, our territorial integrity and to come to the aid of civil authority of which we are doing.
“So, it’s the same task that we should end or curtail or bring to the barest minimum the issue of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and insurgency and we have been doing it for a long time. We are essentially supporting the police to ensure that our country is safe.
“As to whether banditry, terrorism and so on will end, I think it all depends. If Nigerians want it to end today, I can assure you it will end today if everybody joins hands because these bandits are not outside Nigeria, they are not from foreign lands.
“These terrorists, 99 per cent of them are Nigerians. These kidnappers I will say 100 per cent of them are Nigerians. So, it’s not just a military, security agency task to end the insecurity in this country. It’s only when it goes bad that we are called in, but everybody has the responsibility to handle that.
“Some of the insecurities are as old as history itself and it all depends on what you are doing to contain or defeat it at a particular time. It is the totality of your effort that will determine the escalation or containment of the insecurity in the country,” Buratai said.
Buratai, while speaking on the motive behind his visit to Buhari, said: “I’m here to brief Mr President on the task he gave me and I have accomplished one aspect of the task and to brief him on our operations, especially operations Sahel sanity in the northwest and of course the ongoing operations in the northeast and other security issues, that pertains to the Nigerian army actually.
“It is also important for the press not to escalate the situation through reportage, giving prominence to the bandits, terrorists activities. This will go along way in weakening them. You know for the criminals, publicity is their oxygen, without that publicity they will be ineffective. Couple with our efforts in the military and security agencies we will do everything possible to get rid of these criminals.” (Daily Trust)