The Anambra State Governor, Willy Obiano, on Tuesday said the Operation Python Dance inaugurated by the Nigerian military about a week ago in the south east geo-political zone was of good intentions. He said those condemning the exercise had no reason to so do.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and some rights groups in the zone had condemned the operation. They argued that it would inflict hardship on the people of the zone.
Obiano, while receiving the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, the state capital, urged the people of the state to welcome the development.
He said, “They are not army of occupation as being labeled by IPOB, MASSOB and others, especially on the Internet. Nobody will be molested.”
He urged the people to cooperate with the Army in sustaining the relative peace in the state. He said only criminals would be afraid of the development. Obiano recalled that when he assumed office in 2014, there was embarrassing insecurity in the state, forcing indigenes to stay away from the state.
“People were celebrating their traditional wedding outside the state because of insecurity.
“The trend has been reversed with the task force I set up to deal with the situation,” he said.
Buratai said Operation Python Dance was a training programme like others launched in other parts of the country.