The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has hailed the military authorities, the Police and other security agencies over their successes in recent, frontal offensives to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.
BMO said this is a result of the obvious change in strategy, after series of security meetings presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said that the success stories of the last few days are a consequence of proactive actions initiated by the President.
“It’s not even one week after President Buhari held an extraordinary meeting with Service Chiefs, heads of security agencies and ministers saddled with the responsibilities of overseeing security agencies and we are already seeing results on different fronts.
“What Nigerians heard was that the President issued a marching order for the security agencies to be ruthless with bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements, but the swift manner that the military and other agencies have acted showed that new strategies must have been deployed.
“And because of the international dimension of the security challenge, especially in Northern Nigeria, President Buhari was in Chad at the weekend for an emergency regional security meeting involving about 29 countries
“It was a good opportunity for the President to seek international support for his quest to stifle supply line of small arms and light weapons to bandits and insurgents terrorising some parts of the country,” it said.
The group noted that it was gratifying that the military and the police have risen to the occasion by recording great feats in Borno and Zamfara states as well as the Abuja-Kaduna corridor.
This, BMO said, is a reflection of the new vigour the security chiefs are bringing to the efforts to check the spate of security challenges in the country.
it said: “Recent security updates from theatre of internal operations have shown that the strategies mapped out at various meetings are working and yielding results.
“We know that Fighter jets and helicopter gunships only a few days ago located and destroyed eight bandits’ camps, including their logistics base in Kagara forest, killing several bandits in the process. This comes few days after a number of hideouts of the bandits in other parts of Zamfara were targeted by the Air Force.
“And in Borno, Nigerian and Cameroonian troops killed as many as 27 insurgents in a clearance operation in the Northern part of the state. The large cache of arms recovered from the terrorists may just be one of the largest weapons haul by soldiers fighting the war against insurgency. No fewer than 5 gun trucks, 2 anti aircraft guns, several General Purpose Machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered.
“The Police authorities, on their part, have launched “Operation Puff Adder” that only last weekend saw the operatives taking the battle to kidnappers in Akilbu forest along the Abuja-Kaduna highway and killing about 9 of them in the process.
“Also, three notorious kidnappers who abducted a Channels TV reporter Friday Okeregbe, in Abuja about a week ago, were arrested few days after those who kidnapped the director of the Lagos State Fire Service Rasaq Musbau and six others were picked up by a Police anti-kidnapping team”.
BMO said President Buhari has acquitted himself well on the basis of the performance of security forces against banditry, insurgency and kidnapping in recent days. It also poured encomiums on the officers and men on the fields of battle.
“The nation appreciates the sacrifices of these gallant men and women who daily put their lives on the line in the interest of, and in protection of their fatherland. We believe the country is solidly behind them”, the group said.
