The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) said on Thursday that the proposed nationwide protest against hunger may be violent, expressing fear that it may mirror the protests by Kenyan youths against bad governance.
Director of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Major General Edward Buba, told journalists that the Nigerian military had already identified those who will hijack the planned 10-day peaceful protest set to commence on August 1, urging the organisers not to set Nigeria on fire.
The AFN echoed the position of the federal government that Nigerians should give the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration more time to address the hardships and acute hunger in the land.
According to General Buba: “Pertaining to the planned nationwide protest, there are essentially several factors to be thoroughly examined; some of which are whether or not the planned strike is motivated by opposition politics, independent parties, sovereign interference, terrorist groups or any numbers of organizations that have fed on the frustrations of Nigerians to create the situation.
“However, for us in the military, the constitution is clear as to how and when the military gets involved. The constitution also clearly defines the roles and functions of the armed forces. On the other hand, while citizens have a constitutional right to peaceful protest, they do not have a right to mobilise for anarchy in order to unleash terror.
“The contemporary context of the planned protest is to shadow happenings in Kenya which has so far been violent and unresolved to date. Given the situation, there are already indicators that, unscrupulous elements are bent on hijacking the planned protest for violent purposes.
“For instance, there are signs of status related violence such that persons with things as basic as a smart phone and car are targets. This does not leave out those that own a house, shop, or even use air conditioner in their houses.
“Other targets include places of worship, businesses, markets, persons of other ethnic groups and members of opposing political party among others.
“Based on the foregoing, the level of violence envisaged is best described as a state of anarchy. It is for this reason the armed forces will not watch and allow the nation spiral out of control to such low levels.
“Basically, the military has been exposed to wars and have witnessed situations of anarchy in countries ravaged by war, particularly during ECOMOG or during peacekeeping operations.
“It is for this reason that troops will act dutifully to forestall such ugly occurrences from happening in our nation. On the whole, citizens are urged to note that both the timing and the atmosphere of hardship in the country makes the planned protest different from others in the past. It is therefore incumbent upon us all to quench the fires of violence rather than ignite them.”
The Director of Defence Military Operations therefore admonished Nigerians especially youths that “it is time to let cool heads prevail in order for government to further remedy the situation and make our nation flourish again.”
On the operations of the military against terrorists and economic saboteurs, General Buba disclosed that soldiers in the theatres of war killed 106 bandits while a total of 164 terrorists were also arrested in the last one week.
Said the DDMO: “The ongoing multi-front military operations are focused on targeting the centre of gravity of terrorists and their cohorts across the country. Accordingly, we are finding them, flushing them out and dismantling their military, administrative and logistics capabilities across the various theatres.
“The operations are going in an upward trajectory, even as we prioritised targeting the terrorist leaders, commanders, foot soldiers as well as their collaborators. Many of these categories of terrorists have been eliminated from the battlefield and we are after the others,” General Buba said.
On the way forward, he said: “Troops are not resting on their oars but are persistent in exerting significant military pressure to defeat terrorists and their cohorts in NE, NW, and NC Zones. In the SE Zone, troops sustain the momentum against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and their armed Eastern Security Network (ESN) cohorts while in the SS Zone, troops continue to battled perpetrators of crude oil theft.
“In battling the perpetrators of crude oil theft. We have established a unified command structure for security operating in the region. Additionally, we are examining other areas such as: transparency of IOCs, credible metering of oil wells and the tracking of point of loading to destination of the crude oil.
“We are also galvanising the support of host communities as well as stakeholders in the oil sector. Troops are also reinforcing surveillance efforts on vessels, terminals and oil infrastructures to include jackets, that house well heads. Most importantly, troops are monitoring to ensure that culprits are prosecuted by the prosecuting agencies. It is believe that with these measures emplaced, there would be a significant boost in crude oil output for the nation
“During the week under review, troops neutralised 106 terrorists and arrested 164. Troops also arrested 32 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 103 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of Seven Hundred and Ninety Three Million Five Hundred and Thirty Six Thousand Naira (N793,536,000.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 125 assorted weapons and 1,522 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 41 AK47 rifles, one PKT gun, 24 locally fabricated gun, 28 dane guns, one pump action gun, 755 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 623 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 102 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm, 63 live cartridges, 247 empty case of 7.62mm ammo, 22 AK47 magazines, one baofeng radio, 22 vehicles, 31 motorcycles, 2 bicycles, 10 mobile phones and the sum of N2,956,000.00 only amongst other items.
“Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 20 dugout pits, 24 boats and 34 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 56 cooking ovens, 2 speedboats, 14 pumping machines, 18 drums, 22 vehicles, 4 motorcycles and 36 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 802,200 litres of stolen crude oil, 121,900 litres of illegally refined AGO and 450 litres of DPK.”