FG orders troops deployment in Nasarawa

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 BY FIDELIS SORIWEI, ABUJA

Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Ibrahim Attahiru. The Federal Government has ordered the deployment of soldiers in Nassarawa State to prevent further breakdown of law and order in the state. The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Ibrahim Attahiru, said during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, that the soldiers were a little less than a battalion. A battalion in the Nigerian Army ranges from 750 to 1000 soldiers. Attahiru said that the mandate of the troops was to support civil authorities in their efforts to curb the violence. He stated that soldiers had prevented the crisis between Eggon and Alago youths in Obi Local Government Area from spreading to other parts of the state. According to him, the federal and Nasarawa State governments were also seeking other ways of resolving the crisis without delay. He said, “Due to the heightened security situation in Nasarawa State, the Federal Government has ordered the deployment of troops as an aid to civil authority in order to prevent further escalation of the violence and its spread to other parts of the state. “It is gratifying to note that the deployment of troops in the violence-prone area has helped in curbing the spread of violence by the Ombatse and other ethnic groups in Nasarawa State. “The Federal Government and Nasarawa State Government are exploiting ways of ensuring the quick return to normalcy.” About 30 persons were feared killed in a communal clash between Eggon and Alago youths on Saturday. Some communities were also razed down and several people rendered homeless. The crisis led to the evacuation of corps members from the crisis-hit communities to the state capital, Lafia. The State Director of the National Youth Service Corps in the state, Mrs. Bolanle Olabanji, had said that 121 out of the 6,335 corps members who were serving in Obi, Dedere, Tudun-Adabu, Barkin-Kogi, Asakio and other towns were affected by the crisis. Prior to the latest crisis, 63 policemen and 10 personnel of the State Security Department were killed at Alakyo in Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Area of the state. The security personnel were on a mission to arrest the leader of the dreaded Ombatse cult, Ala Agu, when they were ambushed and killed on May 7, 2013. There were reports that two police corporals from the area who were part of the mission leaked information on the mission to the members of the cult who killed them. Attahiru, who also commented on the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents, said some insurgents who were dislodged from their camp at the Kasiya Forest, Ngazai Local Government Area, attacked Benisheik, a town in Kaga Local Government Area of the state, killing ‘a lot of civilians.’ He added that troops in the Forward Operation Base killed a top Boko Haram Commander, who is a high-value target, named, Abba Goroma. The Army spokesman said that a $10 million bounty was earlier set aside for his capture. Attahiru said as part of the efforts, the troops in the formation had conducted operation to pre-empt, dislodge and disrupt the insurgent’s activities in the North-East. According to him, in the process, insurgents’ camps located at Kitumari, Alkaderi, Kurunmati, Abali, Gajiram and Iza within the Sambisa Forest in Borno were destroyed. He said, “Other areas where insurgents’ camps were attacked, include Bubalin and Ngaram within Maiduguri Metropolis as well as Gulimba Area of Gwoza. “The division continues to dominate the area through aggressive mobile patrols of highways and major urban centres as part of confidence-building measures to facilitate the quick return to normalcy. “All these efforts are aimed at denying the terrorists the freedom of action. By and large, military operation within the division’s area of responsibility has been largely successful.’’ On the soldiers being court-martialled in Jos, Plateau State, he said the nine soldiers were still being tried. The director, however, appealed to journalists to clarify all reports from the Directorate of Army Public Relations before going to the press. He said anything contrary to such clarifications from the directorate would be tantamount to giving “oxygen to terrorism and creating undue fear amongst Nigerians".