Operation Positive Identification would be launched nation wide by the military today, Friday, November 1. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, disclosed this on Thursday, October 31.
Buratai said the operation was first launched in the northeast in September, would be conducted nationwide to intercept Boko Haram insurgents who had relocated from their enclaves to other parts of the country.
Buratai, represented by the Head of Civil-Military Affairs, Army Headquarters, Major-General U.S Usman, noted that the exercise would not involve movement of troops or their presence in communities.
READ ALSO: LEAKED: Boko Haram plans to attack Ondo state
He explained that the operation did not involve mounting of checkpoints or military incursions into communities. According to him, “It is an intelligence-based operation to intercept insurgents and other criminal elements relocating from the army’s theatres of operations to other parts of the country.”
He said the precarious situation of the nation prompted the army to initiate various operations to tackle the security challenges facing the country. He said soldiers had been deployed to 34 states of the federation owing to the spate of insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other crimes.
He noted that the army does not operate in isolation, but always works with other security agencies in its operations. He added that if the army arrests criminals, it hands them over to the police except for insurgents detained and profiled by the army depending on the situation.
The Herald earlier reported that bandits were now in trouble as Nigerian Army, on Thursday, launched “Exercise Ayem Akpatuma II” (Exercise Rat Race) in Niger State.
Army explained that was part of its efforts to contain perennial insecurity caused by bandits, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements across the country.
The operation was flagged off the exercise, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigeria Army, Major General Faruk Yahaya.
Yahaya said the state constitutes 10 percent of Nigeria’s land mass with 95 percent forest reserves, sharing common borders with Zamfara, Kebbi and Kaduna states, which have ongoing military operations against bandits.
According to him, “the state was bearing the brunt of the spillover effects of the security situation in the neighbouring states.
“Exercise Ayem Akpatuma II” (Exercise Rat Race) in Niger State in its efforts to contain perennial insecurity caused by bandits, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements across the country.