ENUGU – CHIEF of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika has said that the Nigerian Army is fully prepared to provide the needed security and support that could ensure the peaceful conduct of the April elections in the country.
Speaking during a familiarization tour of the Army Divisions in Enugu, Wednesday, Ihejirika said that the maintenance of internal peace and security of the country was one of the challenges confronting the army at the moment, assuring that efforts would be intensified to effectively handle the situation in the overall interest of the country.
He said the Nigerian Army was prepared to provide the needed peace and security during the forthcoming general elections in line with her constitutional duties and urged the politicians to play the game according to the rules so as to sustain the peace of the country.
According to him the duties expected of the Army during the elections are “peace, security and order, enforcing no movement during the occasion, ensuring that hoodlums do not attack voting centres, giving perimeter defence to collation centres and helping to escort INEC officials and materials from place to place.”
He called on Nigerians to eschew violence and cooperate with security agencies as well as report any plan in any quarters to cause trouble so as to enable the force take preemptive action to forestall such crisis.
On the menace of kidnapping, the COAS vowed that the army would not rest until the South East and South-South geopolitical zones were rid of ransom kidnapping, stressing that the occupation of his men in the affected areas of the zones have already yielded positive results.
The army chief, who confirmed that kidnappers, who went into hiding following the raids on their hideouts by soldiers especially in Aba area of Abia State, were now returning to the business.
He declared that his administration would not rest until the menace was completely wiped out from the southeast, stressing that it was part of the presidential mandate to his administration.
Ihejirika said, “I am not aware that the trend has increased and records available to me do now show that kidnapping is on the rise, but there are still one or two cases that we get every now and then. It means that some of those kidnappers who had gone into hiding particularly in Abia state are rearing their heads again.
“So we have to extend our dragnets to ensure that we rid the entire zone of this menace. We are there on the orders of the President and as long as it is necessary to rid the area of kidnap saga and not just Aba, but the entire south-south and southeast, that is how long we will stay. So we are not in a hurry to leave the areas now.”
Speaking during a familiarization tour of the Army Divisions in Enugu, Wednesday, Ihejirika said that the maintenance of internal peace and security of the country was one of the challenges confronting the army at the moment, assuring that efforts would be intensified to effectively handle the situation in the overall interest of the country.
He said the Nigerian Army was prepared to provide the needed peace and security during the forthcoming general elections in line with her constitutional duties and urged the politicians to play the game according to the rules so as to sustain the peace of the country.
According to him the duties expected of the Army during the elections are “peace, security and order, enforcing no movement during the occasion, ensuring that hoodlums do not attack voting centres, giving perimeter defence to collation centres and helping to escort INEC officials and materials from place to place.”
He called on Nigerians to eschew violence and cooperate with security agencies as well as report any plan in any quarters to cause trouble so as to enable the force take preemptive action to forestall such crisis.
On the menace of kidnapping, the COAS vowed that the army would not rest until the South East and South-South geopolitical zones were rid of ransom kidnapping, stressing that the occupation of his men in the affected areas of the zones have already yielded positive results.
The army chief, who confirmed that kidnappers, who went into hiding following the raids on their hideouts by soldiers especially in Aba area of Abia State, were now returning to the business.
He declared that his administration would not rest until the menace was completely wiped out from the southeast, stressing that it was part of the presidential mandate to his administration.
Ihejirika said, “I am not aware that the trend has increased and records available to me do now show that kidnapping is on the rise, but there are still one or two cases that we get every now and then. It means that some of those kidnappers who had gone into hiding particularly in Abia state are rearing their heads again.
“So we have to extend our dragnets to ensure that we rid the entire zone of this menace. We are there on the orders of the President and as long as it is necessary to rid the area of kidnap saga and not just Aba, but the entire south-south and southeast, that is how long we will stay. So we are not in a hurry to leave the areas now.”
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