by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, has approved the immediate deployment of Intervention Battalion of “Special Forces” to Plateau State.
While disclosing this in a statement signed and issued to Newsmen in Jos by the Media Information Officer for Joint Task Force Operation ENDURING PEACE, Captain Chinonso Oteh, he said the troops are already in the State to aggressively and decisively deal with the recent resurgence of banditry attacks, adding that “It will be a game changer in addressing the threat of insecurity.”
While receiving the troops at Headquarters 3 Division, General Officer Commanding 3 Division and Commander Joint Task Force Operation ENDURING PEACE, Major-General Folusho Oyinlola, who represented the Chief of Staff, Operation Enduring Peace, Brigadier-General Senlong Sule, who received the troops, urged them to be “decisive and ruthless” in carrying out offensive operations against the bandits.
He appreciated the proactive leadership posture of the COAS for providing the needed combat enablers and other logistics requirements, for effective actualization of the troops’ mandate.
Major-General Oyinlola also appealed to citizens of the State not to panic on sighting large numbers of troops’ movement and other heavy military equipment.
He equally appreciated them for their continuous support to the military and called for more support in providing actionable and timely intelligence on criminal elements’ whereabouts, in order to aid troops operations that would lead to desired peace in the State.