COAS Lt Gen. Olufemi Oluyede orders military to wipe out insurgents in Kwara within a month
Lt. Gen. Oluyede
Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), has ordered troops in Kwara State’s Baruten and Kaiama Local Government Areas, as well as those in Borgu, which is part of Niger State’s Kainji Forest, to wipe out bandits in the areas within a month.
Following the formation of a new terrorist organisation in Kwara State and a recent attack that claimed seven lives in Ilesha Baruba, Baruten LGA, security concerns have increased, prompting this order.
The army chief stressed the importance of eliminating threats to the safety and stability of the area during a strategic briefing with army personnel in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, where the directive was given.
A group recently identified as “Mahmuda” is the target of the military operation; it is thought that they have infiltrated areas of Kaiama and Baruten in Kwara State.
Residents and security personnel are more alarmed by the group’s appearance, especially in light of the deadly attack in Ilesha Baruba that was allegedly carried out by the group.
The killings have increased regional anxiety, which has led to increased security agency coordination and active surveillance.
Since Kwara and Niger States had previously been largely shielded from the widespread insurgent activity observed in northeastern Nigeria, these developments have drawn national attention.
Lt. Gen. Oluyede emphasised that the Nigerian Army would not allow insurgency to spread from the Northeast to other regions of the nation, particularly the North Central zone, during his speech at the 22 Armoured Brigade in Sobi Cantonment, Ilorin.
He stated that maintaining the country’s territorial integrity is still of utmost importance and that any threat from armed groups or terrorist organizations seeking to disturb the peace would be met with greater vigor.
The army’s leadership made it clear that they would not allow extremist elements to establish themselves in areas that had not experienced the severity of such violence until recently.
According to the army’s assessment, insurgent groups may be moving toward the middle belt and other susceptible forested areas, especially those that were formerly active in Borno, Yobe, and portions of the Northwest.
The vast, challenging-to-monitor terrain of Kainji Forest, which spans portions of Niger and Kwara States, has historically been exploited by criminal elements, making it strategically significant.
In order to locate and drive out any insurgent enclaves, the Nigerian Army is resuming its engagement through a combination of ground operations and intelligence-based maneuvers.
In order to successfully carry out the directive, troops positioned at the Sobi Cantonment have been assigned the operational mandate to work closely with other Niger State units and federal intelligence networks.
Operational units are anticipated to mobilise quickly and step up patrols along suspected infiltration routes in response to the Chief of Army Staff’s one-month timeline.
