The General Officer Commanding 8 Division of the Nigerian Army and Commander of Joint Taskforce (North West) Operation HADARIN DAJI (OPHD), Maj.- Gen. Godwin Mutkut, has clarified that all the operations being carried out across the theatre were being done professionally by the troops in order to minimise civilian casualties
General Mutkut who made the clarification in Sokoto while fielding questions from Defence Correspondents who are on tour of Operation Hadarin Daji in the North West, dismissed the allegations of indiscriminate bombing against the Troops
He pointed out that the military, being a disciplined and professional organisation, takes precautionary measures to ensure that it minimises civilian casualties during operations.
Speaking specifically about the Bayanruwa community in Zamfara, where it was alleged that the military bombed civilians, General Mutkut said all the people that were bombed in the community were bandits.
According to him, “I know you are asking this question because of Bayanruwa, where they said we bombed civilians. Everybody we bombed had bandits.
” Everybody in Bayanruwa is a bandit, I am the one saying this; there is nobody in Bayanruwa who is not a bandit. If there is anyone saying Bayanruwa is not for bandits, let him come; let’s take him there, all of them there are no exception, and I know they are going to hear this are bandits.”
He disclosed that the military, working with other sister security agencies comprising the Department of State Services, DSS, Police, Civil Defence Corps, and locals, gathers accurate intelligence on bandits’ locations before embarking on bombings and airstrikes.
According to him, “We don’t bomb civilians in our operations. We take precautionary measures to ensure that we avoid civilian casualties.
“The reason we carry out these operations in the first place is to protect civilians so they can go about their businesses. The civilian population are central to our operations; if this is happening, people will speak out
“We try as much as possible to make sure that these civilians don’t mix with the bandits. We ensure they don’t stray into areas where the bandits are.
“We go as far as protecting them in their farms. We had a programme last year where we protected civilians in their farmland. We rotated it among communities so we can have more men to protect them. That yielded a lot of results and also led to a bumper harvest. I think it’s something that is worthy of emulation by others. At all times, civilians are the key people that we protect.”
On the Operations of the Troops, the GOC explained that the Troops have carried out a series of operations, comprising ambushes and raids on the bands down to their enclaves, which were being destroyed along with their structures
According to him, “The troops are everywhere in Sokoto and Zamfara States, which are the areas of my jurisdiction and they are degrading the bandits on a daily basis, We will not relent on the mandate given to us as an institution to end the Insurgency activities in this axis
The GOC who acknowledged the support of the local Communities in their operations in the ongoing fight against insurgency activities, however, urged for more support in the area vitally illegitimate against the criminals, saying that they were not spirits but normal human beings
Speaking earlier, the leader of the team, who is also the Deputy Director of Media Operation, Brigadier General Mohammed Dahiru Abumawashi, explained that the essence of the tour was to give the true perspective of military operational activities and also to avoid manipulation of military operational occurrences by enemies of the Nigerian state to perpetrate their evil acts of portraying the country in a bad light.
According to him, “We are here with the Definition Correspondents to also deepen the relationship between the army and the media by spearheading media access to enable direct interaction with the frontline formations and units, so as to have the true picture of things.”
The Team has moved to Zamfara States axis for the inspection of the Troops.
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