The Theatre Commander Operation HADIN KAI Major General Christopher Musa has assured Nigerians that the military authorities are not taking anything for granted.
General Musa said this against the backdrop of the mass surrender of terrorists in the North East Theatre of Operations and the apprehensions this has built in the minds of many Nigerians.
The Theatre Commander who was speaking at the Headquarters Operation HADIN KAI while meeting with a team of Journalists on a media tour said the support of the media has been wonderful in their operations especially in recent time which the military appreciates.
General Christopher further noted that though the war on insurgency in the North East has taken long which has taken the region backwards developmentally, “the Theatre Command is taking nothing for granted in terms of the mass surrender.”
He said the military is doing all within the international laws in the handling of the Boko Haram Issue especially against the backdrop of the mass Surrender of the terrorist.
“We are just doing what we are supposed to do the laws will naturally take its course, nobody will take them in and tomorrow say go, your sins are forgiven, no it doesn’t work that way and that is why we were able to talk to the Governor and advice him to call for a stakeholders meeting which was held to chart a way forward” said the Theatre Commander.
The General stated further that the military has no power to prosecute the insurgents rather than to profile them and investigate them before handing them over to the necessary authorities for appropriate sanctions and the extent of offences committed as stipulated in the extent laws.
He pointed out that the safety and unity of Nigeria is non negotiable and as such, the army will do all within its power to ensure justice is achieved by all parties and the military needs the media as its partner to give the right information to the public.
Also speaking, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyeama Nwachukwu said the military authorities know that members of the public are apprehensive and as such, there is a need to inform them about what is going on and to change the narrative hence.
“There have been so many narratives to this Boko Haram sudden surrendering. Some of these narratives surrounds on the recent surrender of the BH to the Nigerian military.
The Boko Haram insurgents have been surrendering. People have questioned the authenticity of the surrendering of these insurgents. People are also questioning why are the insurgents surrendering at this point in time” said Nwachukwu.
He also said there is also the questions on reintegration of the insurgents and the plight of the victims of the insurgency all these issues inform the essence of the tour. He assured that the military is not resting on its oars in the fight to end insurgency and insecurity in the country.
He went further to explain that the fight against insurgency has recorded tremendous success considering what it was in the past.
“At some point, the insurgents almost took over the three state capitals of adamawa, Borno and yobe in the Northeast. Some few years back as far back as 2014, Boko Haram was almost advancing towards lokoja, they were marching towards Abuja. Today they have been boxed to the timbuks or the hills.
“I will also like to mention that the ISWAP, very recently, haven been depleted by the surrenderingand conflict between them have embarked on what I’ll call a massive recruitment drive and I consider it very important to engage in media propaganda to block this recruitment as well as project the potency and strength of our forces,” Nwachukwu noted.
Nnenna.O
