Some of the civilian casualties who are hit by military airstrikes when targeting bandits are actually friends and collaborators who are either trading with the terrorists or collaborating with them as informants, Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa has said. He spoke at a briefing for media executives at Defence Headquarters in Abuja. He regretted that the media accuse the military of hitting such civilians, when they place themselves in close proximity to terrorists and bandits. Airstrikes are always preceded by careful planning and reconnaissance even though mistakes are unavoidable in war, Musa said.
He said when war lasts for a long time, it creates a war economy which creates saboteurs. For example, he said, some Non-Government Organisations [NGOs] in Maiduguri paid ten years’ rent in advance, “which means they are not planning to go anywhere.” Asked why the military does not make available statistics of battle field losses, the CDS said “we don’t release such figures because it affects morale of our troops, and if your men are demoralized, how can they fight?”
Defence Headquarters revealed at the briefing that 6,260 terrorists and bandits have been killed in various military operations in the past two years, while more than 6,000 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition were recovered. The operations include Operation Hadin Kai in the North East, Fansan Yamma in the North West, Whirl stroke in the North Central, Delta Safe in the Niger Delta and more operations in the South East and South West. The Army, it was said, he severely degraded the Lakurawa terrorists in the North West and they no longer pose a threat to national security. Thousands of terrorists and their families surrendered in the North East, and emerging terrorist threat in Kwara State and around Kainji Lake was speedily neutralized while operations against oil thieves led to an increase in oil production from 1.2 million to 1.8 million barrels per day, Defence Headquarters also said.
General Musa said Boko Haram and ISWAP are now reduced to small parts of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. He also said kinetic operations in the South East severely degraded IPOB/Eastern Security Network and many markets in the region have reopened, he also said.
Present at the briefing were representatives of the Army, Navy and Airforce Chiefs as well as Principal Staff Officers and Directors at Defence Headquarters. Representatives of the Director Generals of National Intelligence Agency, Directorate of State Services and Police Inspedgor General were also present, as was representative of the Defence Minister.
