Major General Edward Buba, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Defence Headquarters Abuja, has said the military is re-strategizing to restore peace in Plateau state.
Maj-Gen. Buba who said this at the end of year briefing of Defence Correspondents on the ongoing military operations across the country expressed worry over the incessant killings in the state.
He wondered what could be the cause of the killings which he described as recurring decimal in the Plateau.
Buba however assured that lasting solutions would be secured, adding that the time has come for peace to be restored in state.
He also revealed that the military is re-strategizing to ensure that such dastardly act does not occur again in the Plateau.
He said,”The situation in Plateau and the killings is not new to all of us, it has been a recurring decimal, and the killings are senseless. The question will be what is the cause of these killings that have been recurring over the years. Could it be an agenda of land grabbing, could it be ethno-religious in nature, could it be herders-farmers clash, could it be indigenes-settlers clash, or could it be a combination of all these?
“One thing is clear, it is time to win the peace in the Plateau. It is not enough to be talking, it is time to win the peace in the Plateau. And we as a force will be strategizing to make sure we can protect our citizens be it in the Plateau or where ever to make sure we can protect them better.
“We should not be limited by terrain or distance, we are re-strategizing to achieve and make that peace reign. But for the citizens, there is need to come forward and expose, like I said,”You know something, you say something”.
“That is the much I can say about the Plateau, apart from the fact that we are also going after those that perpetrated the recent killings.
“I did mentioned earlier that we have put up modalities in place to ensure that whatever limited us previously that we are not able to get to locations on time have been totally eliminated.”
On the recent threat of another attack allegedly issued against the people of attack, Maj-Gen. Buba said,”I can assure you that this cannot repeat itself again. It can not repeat itself again.”
He also revealed that efforts are going to fish out bad eggs in the military. “We are looking for the bag eggs where ever they may be, whatever they do, we are going to fish them out and we are going to sanction them.”
On what the military is doing to curb the menace of the proliferation arms across the country, and also military personnel involved in arms dealings he said,”In the course of the year while briefing you, I have made mention of the discovery of arms fabricating factories in different locations. And what I have done in this my report now is to just sum it all up to tell you that we have them more prevalent in Plateau and Kaduna states.
“The issue about troops that I mentioned that have been involved in some arms dealings, I have also mentioned them previously that such troops were arrested and I have just come out also to say that those troops were fished out and they have been sanctioned and we are looking for more bad eggs where ever they may be, what. they do, we are going to fish them out and we are going to sanction them. We are not going to protect them.”
Earlier during the briefing, Maj-Gen. Buba revealed that ongoing military operations across that country within the last 12months has resulted in the killing of over 6,886 terrorists, arrest of
6,970 suspected terrorists, rescue of 4,488 kidnapped hostages as well as recovery of 3,320 assorted weapons and 39,075 assorted ammunition.
He also disclosed that in the Niger-Delta region of the country, troops recovered 100,316,600 litres of crude oil, 60,339,426 litres of AGO, 3,465,450 litres of DPK and 3,544,990 litres of PMS, among other successes recorded in the other Geo-Political zones of the country.
