Stop demoralising Nigerian troops, Arewa group tells politicians

The Arewa Youth Federation (AYF) has chided lawmakers against passing damming verdict on the nation and security agencies during plenary on the floor of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

The group in a statement signed by its President, Dr. Muhammed Kabiru, expressed serious disapproval with the presentation of the senator representing Kogi west, Senator Smart Adeyemi.
The alleged that the Senator outrightly refused to acknowledge the efforts of the government and the security agencies in the war against insurgency and criminality in the country.

“We are appalled that a high ranking senator like Senator Adeyemi will decide to play to the gallery on the floor of the Senate. We expect him to ask his colleagues who are members of senate committee on security to intimate him of the efforts of the security agencies and renewed determination to nip insecurity in the bud. Some of the security personnel even pay the supreme price in defence of the the nation,” the statement said.

The group alleged that the comments of the Senator were demoralising and capable of weakening the morale of the soldiers and other security agencies who are presently in the forests fiercely fighting bandits and criminals.

The Arewa youth group said the comments by the Senator was most unfortunate coming at a time that far reaching measures have been taken by the military and other security agencies.

The group listed such measures to include shutting down of telecommunication in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states.

It said the new approach has led to elimination of wanted bandits and the surrender of several foot soldiers of the gang leaders.

“Since the renewed onslaught, several informants and syndicates, supplying information, weapons, food, fuel and other logistics to the bandits have been bursted and arrested. This is no mean feat that deserves commendation. We are not saying, we have overcome the insecurity challenges but that tremendous success has been made and with the arrival of high tech weapons, hard and software in the country, we expect that more breakthrough will be achieved,” it said.

The group commended the collaboration between the Army, Airforce, Navy, the Police and other security agencies for taking the battle to the enclaves of the bandits and making them uncomfortable in their hidouts.

Dr. Kabiru particularly commended the determination, innovation and sophistication of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Department of State Security for Service (DSS) for the tremendous success in the war, noting that security, the world over rests on intelligence gathering.

He called on the people to provide information to the security agencies as criminals do not live in a vacuum but in the communities.

The Arewa Youth Federation further said that, the military have not relented.

“At the moment, the Nigerian Army has commenced three exercises nationwide code-named operations “Golden Dawn”, “Enduring Peace” and “Still Water”, aimed at fighting all kinds of criminality in the country”.

According to the group, several sophisticated weapons purchased for fighting insurgency and other forms of criminality are just arriving the shores of the country.

The group specifically mentioned the Super Tucano, other fighter Jets and modern day warfare weapons.

Dr. Kabiru Stated that, President Buhari held several bi-lateral meetings with leaders of advanced nations at the just concluded United Nations meeting with most of them pledging to collaborate with the Nigerian government to tackle insecurity in the country.

The group cautioned Senator Adeyemi and other elites against using their offices and platforms to embolden the bandits and their collaborators.