Hunger protest: Military after only enemies of state – Defence chief

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, has said that the military and security agencies are after those behind the call for undemocratic change of government.

Musa said this on Tuesday during a combined news conference by the heads of security agencies and service chiefs at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

He said the military knew that some protesters calling for regime changes were sponsored, adding that the military and other security agencies were trailing them to bring them to book.

He said, “I want to appreciate Nigerians for their understanding, for their commitment to upholding the law and order.

“We have had issues in the past few days, but you can see that people have seen reason for us not to continue with the destruction, to stop the looting, to stop giving opportunities for others to subvert our nation and to destroy our nation.

“They have also seen reasons to join hands together with the security forces to make Nigeria better.

“We want to assure them, we on this side, that we are fully committed to Nigeria, we love the country, we are mindful of the fact that we have been equipped and so we are duty bound to protect the country.

“We are only after those that are against the states, not those that are innocent.

“So I want to make that very clear and we will continue to work together as a team to support Mr President in achieving his mandate of peace and tranquility in our dear country Nigeria.”

The CDS called for the collaboration of all other agencies to ensure that they achieved success and called for calm, mediation, and dialogue towards national unity and cohesion as one great country.

He said the Nigerian military was people centric in all its activities, adding they were not interested in anybody being killed or injured or being prosecuted, except those that have crossed the line.

He said the joint news conference was an opportunity to show that the military and all the security agencies were working as a team in line with the mandate of the president.

On his part, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, said the main operational commitment of the army was to deploy resources to combat the protests that have turned riots to ensure sustainable peace in the country.

Lagbaja said the army under his command was more concerned about bringing the country to a state of sustainable peace and security, adding that attention had not been diverted from its main operational commitment in combating terrorism and banditry.

“I checked the number of patrols that troops conduct, the number of ambushes that are undertaken on daily basis, the number of violent insurgents that have been eliminated, incapacitated and other indices, and it has not dropped by whatever measure.

“Also we have continued to expand the frontier of peace and security in Borno state.

“Internally Displaced Persons are being returned back to Kukawa and some other places as I speak to you, which are indices of return to peace and stability.

“So the troops are not relenting in their operational commitment in the field on our contingency plan in the event that the situation degenerates.

“I want to also assure you that our estimates looking into the future suggests that the situation will not degenerate but we need cooperation of every stakeholder in Nigeria to achieve that,” he said.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla, said the navy had continued to work with other services and security agencies to ensure safety and security in the maritime domain.

Ogalla reiterated the commitment of the Navy to sustain its operations in the Niger Delta to ensure that the nation’s meets its oil production capacity

He said the operations had led to an increase in oil output and boosted the revenue generation from oil that would help the nation to meet the needs of the citizens.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, said the Nigerian Air Force remained committed to ensure successful operations in all operational engagements of the armed forces.

He said the military was mindful of its commitment to defending the

territorial integrity of the nation.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Chiefs of Army, Navy, Air Force and Defence as well as the Inspector-General of Police and representative of the Director-General of the Department of State Service, made presentations.

Also in attendance are the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Commander-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

NAN.