Military frowns at late report of kidnapping incidents

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has lamented the none timely report of kidnapped incidents across the country, saying it has affected its search and rescue of victims.

This is coming as the military confirmed that troops killed 213 terrorists and arrested 216 across the country.

The Director, Defence Media Operations Major General Edward Buba, who disclosed this at a biweekly media briefing, said the military will not rest until hostages are returned.

According to him, the hostage situation is an extremely sensitive one which unfortunately is not unprecedented in the history of the ongoing war.

He said, “These hostages are being held in locations that are difficult to get to, but not out of reached. The situation is however indicative of the desperation of these terrorist to avoid troops onslaught by all means.

“Recall that in recent times troops have decimated several of the terrorist leaders, commander and foot soldiers in and fast closing in one several others. These terrorist have exhibited cowardice by going for such soft targets to impede troops advances. I assure you that we will not rest until they are returned.”

He however, said it troops had killed 213 terrorist and arrested 216 across the country.

He said, “Troops also arrested 67 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 26 kidnapped hostages, while troops in the South-south, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of N1,558,665,080.00.

“Furthermore, troops recovered 189 assorted weapons and 4,003 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 111 AK47 rifles, G3 rifle, 31 locally fabricated guns, 5 pump action guns, automatic pump action guns, 26 dane guns, 4 locally made double barrels, 2 fabricated pistols, RPG bomb and IEDs (OGBUNIGWE).

“Others are: 2,766 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 982 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 240 live cartridges, 2 shortgun cartridges, 13 rounds of 9mm ammo, 36 empty cases of 7.62mm ammo, 38 magazines, 3 G3 magazines, 8 vehicles, 44 motorcycles, 19 mobile phones, 4 bicycles, rifle butt, rifle stock and the sum of N628,000.00 amongst other items.”

According to General Buba, troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 150 dugout pits, 30 boats, 73 storage tanks, 209 drums and 15 vehicles.

He said, “other items recovered include 105 cooking ovens, 3 pumping machines, 2 outboard engines, one tricycle, 4 motorcycles and 45 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 1,227,470 litres of stolen crude oil, 313,780 litres of illegally refined AGO and 13,000 litres of PMS.

“Following the recent kidnapping of over 120 school pupils, General Buba, assures that, getting hostages back is very clearly on the top of our priorities, while its leveraging on international partners for support.

“They are providing the necessary support including intelligence that is giving us the advantage in dealing with the ugly situation.

“There is therefore the need for citizens to be circumspect when they see post from these terrorist groups and their cohorts, particularly on social media. These groups feed on the attention that they receive in the media to sway the populace. We must be conscious of that and avoid being used directly or indirectly against our national interest.

“Of recent, these terrorist initiated a post that went viral on the attack of military vehicles. It might interest you to know that, that particular incident was reported when it occurred in Dec 2023. One soldier lost his life as a result of the attack. Afterward, troops conducted synchronised attacks killing the leader of that group and several of his foot soldiers.

“The post therefore is clearly an act of desperation by the terrorist to conceal their weakness. Overall, We are winning the war and making life unbearable for these terrorist. We continue to degrade them each passing day. We have seriously depleted their ranks to the extent that they are on a desperate recruitment drive, hence some of the witnessed abductions.

“Several of their leaders and commanders have been neutralised as a result of troops onslaught. They want to use these hostages as human shield for their survival. Nevertherless, be assured that we will not rest until the hostages are returned.”