Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.Gen. Tukur Buratai has revealed that banditry and other criminal activities which have torment Zamfara and its environs will soon be over. The disclosure was made on Thursday, 13th December 2018 during the unveiling of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army facility donated to it by the Government of Zamfara State.
The Chief of Army Staff, who was represented by the Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki, commended the State Government for providing the facility while assuring that the Nigerian Army would remain resolute in protecting the territorial integrity of the country. He noted that the 1 Brigade in Zamfara would be given all the required equipment and manpower that would contain the security threats currently bedeviling the state.
Relatedly, Otiki charged the troops to continue to support the nation’s democracy and remain apolitical. He stressed that the overall symbol of the brigade “the Eagle” signified peace, strength, and courage which he affirmed would be the watch-words of officers and men of the brigade.
Earlier, the Brigade Commander, Brig. Gen. Lynus Udeagbala, revealed that the movement of the Brigade from Sokoto to Gusau and the donation of the facility to the Army by the Zamfara Government had created a conducive working environment and would bring out the best in the soldiers. He said the personnel of the Brigade would continue to collaborate with other security agencies in the area with a view to neutralizing all forms of criminality in the state.
Speaking further, The General Officer Commanding 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj. Gen. Stevenson Olabanji disclosed that the Brigade which participated in the nation’s civil war transited from Minna to Sokoto in 1991 and to Zamfara in 2018.
The GOC further added that “Operation Sharan Daji” which he is commanding in the North-West was fully on course in the fight against bandits.
Commissioning the facility, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, Zamfara State Secretary to the State Government (SSG), expressed the readiness of the state government to support security agencies deployed to the state. Shinkafi added that the engagement of 8,500 youth from the 17 Emirate Councils in the state was based on the need for ca community-based approach to support the conventional security in tracking-down the criminals in all their hideouts in the State.