Boko Haram: Army goes tough on infiltration in Niger Delta

THE fear of Boko Haram creeping beyond its base in the north into the south, especially the South-South may be extant as the Nigerian Army has said it has deployed strategies to tackle the infiltration of the sect to the region, beginning with the inauguration of operation Quick Response Group (QRG) on Thursday at 3rd Battalion, Nigerian Army, Effurun, Delta State.
This is just as traditional rulers and elders of communities where criminalities such as oil bunkering, armed robbery and kidnapping and militancy are being perpetrated will be held accountable henceforth.
The QRG, which is deployed under the platform of “Operation Power Storm,” beside the aforementioned duties, is saddled with the responsibility of quashing the rising wave of crime such as terrorism, kidnapping, oil bunkering, armed robbery and the like in the region.
Eleven new Hilux vans were provided and inaugurated by the Delta State government for the mobility of the soldiers at three designated routes in the state.
The routes to be patrolled include Eku-Ererokpe-Osubi-Effurun route, Obiaruku-Abraka-Eku-Amukpe route and Ughelli-Uwheru-Bumadi and Ughelli-Uwheru-Patani route.
Governor of the state, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was represented by the Secretary of State Government, Comrade Ovuozorie Macaulay, who was accompanied by Commissioner for Land and Urban Development, Mr Patrick Ferire, inaugurated the squad, as well as launched the patrol vans.
Speaking during the inauguration of the soldiers detached for the purpose, Brigade Commander, 4th Brigade, Nigerian Army headquarters, Benin, Edo State, Brigadier General Patrick Akem, said the arrangement was fallout of the State Security Council meeting held recently to identify and man some key routes which were flashpoints for criminality.
He said the body came to the conclusion that some special security arrangements were necessary to stem the tide of crimes on the routes, hence the launching of the squad, which operations’ logistics would be maintained by the state government.
For the state to return to its lost glory as an investment hub, Akem observed that security was everybody’s business and therefore urged members of communities, especially the elders to furnish the army with information about criminals or criminal activities lurking in their domain.
He sounded a note of warning to militants warming up to build one militant camp or the other to drop the idea as the Sector 1, Joint Task Force would not tolerate it, saying that was why, last Tuesday, it destroyed a mushrooming Egbesu camp at Adagbrassa in Okpe Local Government Area of the state.