We’ll kill all non-state-actors in the forests, says CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, says the military has concluded arrangements to neutralise non-state-actors and other agents of violence in the country.

While speaking at a one-day National Defence and Security Summit in Abuja, on Monday, he said illegal occupants of communities, forests and countryside will be targeted so as to stabilise the country.

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He said the military will ensure that the peace which eluded the country returns as soon as possible.

According to him, it is no longer news that the nation experiences a wide range of national security threats including terrorism, insurgency, farmers/herders conflict, ethno-religious conflicts, kidnapping and banditry.

“Our strategic objectives are manifold and imbued to neutralise non-state-actors and other agents of violence in our communities, forests and countryside to stabilise the security situation across the nation, to facilitate law and order; and lastly to provide the enabling environment far peace and development.

“These presuppose that the military would need support from other security agencies during the operations and would be required to give support to others at different stages of the internal security effort.

“On behalf of the officers and men/women of the armed forces, I pledge our unalloyed loyalty to C-in-C and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The mandate shall be delivered; fear and despair shall be extinguished from our land. Nigeria will have peace again,” the CDS said.

He stressed that the Armed Forces of Nigeria were committed to ensuring the return of peace to different parts of the country being confronted by insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of security challenge.

The military chief noted that defence and security were universally considered as common, but existential values that affect the entire nation.

He added that the summit was organised to seek to discuss how to promote kinetic operations by leaders and eminent personalities in the Nigerian society who would contribute their narratives towards addressing the security challenges.