The leadership of the Nigerian armed forces deserves encomiums for effectively heeding President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive for an intelligence-driven operation against terrorists, insurgents and other criminal elements
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, said the recent trend of successes in the war against terrorism and insurgency shows that enough attention is being given to actionable intelligence.
“For some time now, the armed forces have been launching successful ground and air assaults on terrorist hideouts in the North East and the North West that have seen key terrorist commanders neutralized, alongside their fighters.
“We acknowledge that this has been a regular trend in recent times, whether in the Lake Chad area or the forests linking Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara States. Unfortunately, the military authorities and the troops are not getting the accolades they deserve from some Nigerians, especially those who are quick to lambast them when things go wrong.
“We make bold to say that some of the air strikes, including those that recently took out key ISWAP leaders in Borno, are not different from what the United States and its coalition partners successfully used to decimate the ranks of ISIS in Syria.
“And if there is any doubt that these operations are intelligence-driven and well coordinated, then one needs to take a second look at the recent air strikes that neutralized a notorious terrorist kingpin, Ali Dogo, aka Yellow, alongside his fighters in a building where they were said to have converged in Kaduna.
“The Defence Headquarters has since confirmed that Yellow and his fighters had earlier been targeted at a location in Niger State before relocating to Yadi in Kaduna where fighter jets got a direct hit on them.
“This is not the first time that the air components of ongoing military operations have successfully bombarded terrorists’ locations using Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance assets which have led to the surrender of several terrorists, including Boko Haram’s chief executioner Bashir Bulabuduwaye, who is believed to have personally executed over 1,000 abducted persons.
“It more than anything shows that the directives handed down by President Buhari a few months ago for the military to step up their intelligence gathering have been quite effective”, the statement added.
BMO also urged the armed forces to sustain the momentum until insurgency and terrorism become things of the past in the country