Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) thursday declared that there was no scheduled date to end the decade-old war against insurgency in the North-east.
It also debunked claims contained in the report of the international human rights group, Amnesty International (AI).
It maintained that the reports of the organisation that Nigerian military detained and sexually abused children within the theatre of war in the North-east, were tissues of lies.
Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, the Coordinator of the Directorate of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Major General John Enenche, said there was no mathematical end to the war.
“There is no time that there will not be casualty. I cannot say but that the casualty figure will be reduced, yes.
“There is no mathematical end to the war. The Bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked. We will get there. I assure Nigerians that the situation would be normalised”, he said.
He further stated that “there is no place where you give a date for end of war. Active war will end but other criminalities will continue”.
On the Amnesty International’s report, Enenche said there was no truth in the report.
“Why is it that every time we are recording success, they will come up with their
report?
“All the allegations are all lies. None is true. Patriotic Nigerians are already reacting. To say that we are touring children is ridiculous. We are party to the international convention on war”, he said.
Enenche further argued: “How about the people, the women and children we have rescued and vaccinated?. The purpose is to discourage those who are supporting us”.
Giving an update on military operations against insurgents and armed bandits, the Coordinator of DDMO said troops rescued 236 civilians including women and children, who were abducted by the terrorists in the month of May.
He said troops of Operation Hadarin Daji in various clearance operations neutralised 392 armed bandits and destroyed some of their dwellings and logistics warehouses within the period under review.
On anti-oil theft operations in the Niger Delta region, he day Nigerian Navy Ship Delta, on May 25, 2020, intercepted a wooden boat and a speed boat around Ilaopashe, Bennett island and Lokpobri communities in Warri and Burutu South Local Government Areas of Delta State. He said the team located four illegal refining sites with 14 dug-out pits, 32 surface metal storage tanks and 43 ovens laden with about 628.98 barrels of suspected stolen crude oil as well as 72,000.00 litres of product suspected to be illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
On the interstate movement of bandits, he noted that “there are worries from some quarters in the North-west and North-central parts of the country that armed bandits could escape from states where the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies are conducting various operations at the moment, to other states.
“In this regard, the High Command of the Nigerian Military hereby assures all concerned that proactive measures are in place to handle such occurrences. To address this specifically, all current operations are in synergy with the ongoing operations in the North-west to tackle interstate movement of armed bandits and other criminals within the North-west and North-central zones”.
Enenche said air assets were deployed to cover Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa and Kogi states.
