Defence Headquarters says the security situation across the six geo-political zones of the country has shown that it is self-inflicted, warning that any Nigerian who takes up arms against the Nigeria State would be killed.
Defence Headquarters also raised the alarm that terrorists and their sympathisers were planning to blackmail the military with “unfounded” allegations following the ongoing onslaught against the terrorists.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the recent declaration of the Yoruba Nation is “laughable.”
Some armed agitators for the Yoruba Nation who dressed in military camouflage had on Saturday invaded and attempted to take over the Oyo State Secretariat and the State House of Assembly in their effort to enforce the declaration of the “Democratic Republic of Yoruba” by its leader Ms Modupe Onitiri-Abiola.
The agitators engaged security operatives in gun battle but were subdued by a combined team of troops of Nigerian Army, Police, Civil Defence, leading to the arrest and arraignment of 29 suspects.
General Buba, who spoke in answer to a question, said the agitators were lucky that the military wasn’t the first responder to their shenanigans, saying they would have been dead by now.
Buba described as laughable the recent upsurge in the agitation for the Yoruba Nation in Nigeria’s South West region, likening it to the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East, which, he declared, was for self-aggradisement.
“These acts are against the constitution and, therefore, unacceptable for persons or groups to take up arms against a constituted government. Anyone or group that contravenes this provision of the constitution is inviting severe military action and would be dealt with decisively,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the military spokesman said troops attached to various operations across the theatres had in the last one week neutralised 192 terrorists, apprehended 341 others and rescued 62 kidnapped hostages.
He also said a total of 122 ISWAP/JAS terrorists surrendered with their families, adding that the troops also recovered 211 assorted weapons and 6,288 assorted ammunition within the week.