ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Updating your news feed...
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
The
Defence Headquarters on Saturday says it will withdraw troops of the Operation
Whirl Stroke from Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States.
Speaking
to journalists on Saturday in Benue State, the Defence Spokesman, Brigadier
General Onyema Nwachukwu, said the operation which began in June 2018 to combat
herdsmen attacks, communal crisis and militia groups has largely restored peace
in the affected areas.
“We
have a mandate; we have a mission. And the mission fundamentally is to maintain
peace, safety and security in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States. And to a very
large extent, that mission has been achieved.
“We
just travelled all the way to Gbishe now and all I see on the road was
tranquility, people going about their normal businesses. We have been to
countries like Liberia where we had operations where there was civil war, when
we met the mandate we began to draw down and that is exactly what is going to
happen here,” he said.
He
however reacted to concerns raised by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State that
the withdrawal of troops could spark renewed attacks in the affected states.
According
to Nwachukwu, the withdrawal wouldn’t be a complete one but would be done
gradually in phases.
“I saw
comments made by His Excellency, the Governor of Benue State (Samuel Ortom). It
is not an outright shutdown of the operation. It is not as if we are going to
close the operation, pack our bags and vacate the operational area, that is not
what is happening.
“There
is going to be a draw down and that draw down is not immediate. It is going to
be phased. So, it’s not like pack your things and get out of the place.
“Again,
we have made provisions that as the troops draw down, as we wind down the
operation, we have some benchmark that have been put in place to ensure that
there is no resurgence of these criminalities,” he stated.
The
brigadier general also revealed that the military authorities have developed
kinetic operation that hev involved traditional and political leaders aimed at
maintaining peace in the region. (Channels TV)
