The military high command has dispelled rumours about mass retirement of senior army officers with the appointment of a new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major-General Farouk Yahaya.
Speaking on behalf of Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Irabor, on Thursday in Abuja during a media briefing on the operational efforts of the Armed Forces and other security agencies between May 20th and June 2nd, the Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brigadier-General Bernard Onyeuko, recalled that rumours of mass retirement gained ground following Yahaya’s appointment on May 27.
According to him, “this has stirred up lot of rumours in the media about mass retirements in the military. I wish to use this medium to dispel such unfounded rumours.
“Retirement is only on voluntary basis for senior officers who desire to do so. At this point, no retirements has been authorized by the Military High Command.”
On the military operations, he said that within the period in focus, troops intensified their efforts in the fight against terrorism, banditry, hoodlums and militancy as well as other criminalities across all the geo-political zones of the country.
Troops conducted a series of clearance patrols, ambush, raid, picketing, cordon and search operations as well as artillery bombardments.
Anti-piracy, anti-illegal oil bunkering, anti-crude oil theft, anti-pipeline vandalism and anti-smuggling operations were also conducted within the period.
The troops also carried out extensive air operations, which included aerial patrols, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions, offensive strikes, interdictions, search and rescue as well as close air support for ground troops, all of which yielded appreciable results.
Specifically, the troops of Operation HADIN KAI between 20 May and 2 June 2021 carried out a series of activities.
They rescued kidnapped victims, neutralized scores of terrorists, destroyed terrorists’ enclaves, arrested terrorists and intercepted terrorists’ logistics items including vehicles.
On 20 May 2021, troops had contact and engaged Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) in Gwoza local government area of Borno State, swiftly responding to a distress call by farmers under attack by the criminals.
Troops rescued the farmers, with several terrorists neutralized, while some others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
Also on same day, troops while conducting clearance operations on BHT’s hideouts at Ngaiwa, Tongunle, Washelle, Mo’o, Mudollo, Mugdalla and Amtul villages, all in Dikwa LGA of Borno State, killed scores of the terrorists and recovered large caches of arms and ammunition.
In related developments, between 21 and 25 May, troops conducted cordon and search, raid operations and arrested BHT logistics suppliers at Ngamdu Town in Kaga LGA of Borno State, New Barracks Location along Damaturu – Potiskum road as well as Kukareta Town in Damaturu LGA of Yobe State.
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Items recovered during the operation included large numbers of jerry cans and drums of PMS, assorted arms and ammunition as well as other logistics items.
This has drastically dislocated the terrorists’ logistics network in the region.
Meanwhile on 23 May 2021, the Air Task Force of Operation HADIN KAI conducted an extensive interdiction missions near Gudumbali in Guzamal LGA and the Toumbuns of Lake Chad of Borno State.
The air interdiction missions executed with various NAF platforms resulted in the neutralization of scores of BHT criminal elements and destruction of their camps and logistics facilities.
