Be committed to peace, Military Chief tells Benue, Taraba communities

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin, has reiterated the need for communities in Benue and Taraba States to be committed to peace in their localities so as to attract more social amenities for meaningful development.

Olonisakin made the remark on Thursday during the commissioning of five hand-pump boreholes in five communities sunk by the Department of Civil-Military Cooperation under his office in three Local Government Areas in Taraba State.

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The department had also recently donated 10 boreholes to 10 communities in two LGAs of Benue State as part of its non kinetics effort in building peace among people of the surroundings.

Daily Trust reports that in the latest outing, two of the boreholes were sited at Wukari new site and Rafinkada in Wukari Local Government Area, while one was located at Akate in Donga local government area with two sunk in Chanchaji and Takum communities in Takum LGA of Taraba state.

The CDS, General Olonisakin noted that the projects were sited at the various points to address the water needs of the benefiting communities in addition to the security been provided in the areas.

Represented by Rear Admiral Abdul Adamu, the CDS said the project was initiated by the military as one of the ways to pay back the peaceful cooperation of communities as he pointed out that such-quick- back projects are scattered across the country including Benue state.

“As you are all aware, the military have various operations across the country due to the numerous security challenges. Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) being one of them covering Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States.

“Now the military operations have been using kinetic operation but the chief of defence staff noticed in his wisdom that there should be this kind of gesture that could yield more sustainable peace because when you restore peace in a community, there should be something that could sustain the peace.

“Therefore, the project (water) is meant to cement the civil and military relationship in the state. These projects were initiated by the CDS, General Gabriel Olanishokon and the purpose of the projects is to sustain the peace we have restored so far using kinetic and non kinetic approaches,” Olonisakin posited.

On his part, Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba state commended the CDS for coming to provide water projects in the benefitting communities.

Ishaku who was represented at the occasion by his Special Adviser on Security Matters, Col. Wunuken Agyo (retd.) acknowledged the wonderful performance of OPWS troops in the restoration of law and order in the areas where destruction of life and property was the order of the day.

“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to people of the state to accord maximum cooperation to the people serving in the Commission of Inquiry for the Jukun/Tiv crisis to be able to proffer solutions to the crisis.

“Before now nobody dare ply the Wukari, Akate and Takum roads due to the activities of armed bandits but with the presence of OPWS, people can now ply the roads freely without harassment and intimation by these criminal elements,” he added.

Also speaking, the Force Commander of OPWS, Major General Adeyemi Yekini, warned people of the state to desist from harbouring criminal elements in their homes and cooperate with troops of OPWS by volunteering information on time so as to be able to rid bandits from their communities.

Yekini stressed that, the military decided to provide the water boreholes for all the benefitting communities in addition to restoration of peace because water means life and those communities do not have enough sources to meet their water needs.