Victorious Weekend for Military, Police, as they Bomb Boko Haram Hideout

National Security Adviser,  Gen. Owoye Azazi (rtd)

It was a weekend of total victory for the security forces in the country, as they recorded immense successes in combating  different types of crime in the country

. From Kogi State where a bomb-manufacturing hideout was smashed in a bomb-raid, through Kano city where some four robbery suspects were routed and killed.  down to Abeokuta where a bank robbery was averted, it was indeed victory all the way for the armed forces

The Nigeria Air Force Saturday,  launched a severe  bombardment and raid of a hill-top cave used by the Boko Haram  terrorists to store and manufacture Improvised Electronic Devices (IEDs).

The cave was discovered in a forest in Usomi central senatorial district, Kogi State. Though no arrest was made after the air raid, the combined team of State Security Service (SSS), police and army personnel that combed the cave recovered items used for manufacturing explosives.

The Commander of the Police Anti-Bomb Squad, Kogi State Command, Mr. Cletus Nzeji,  named items recovered from the scene of the incident as: unprimed hand grenade, gas cylinders used for manufacturing massive explosives, 43 bomb canisters fabricated with water pipes, a double barrel gun, 1.5 KVA electricity generator, iron grinder, wires, ammonia, gun powder, time bomb devices, remote starters for motorbikes used for distance detonation of bombs, batteries,  iron cutters, clamp, welding materials, gloves, super glue, tools, bottles, syringe and needles, anti-personnel devices and other primary explosives. 

According to him, "The success is due to the collaboration of the SSS, army and the police and a sustained long-term surveillance operation, with cross-checked intelligent report."

He expressed the joy that "the air raids - with bombardments by Air Force bombers smoked the criminals out" and gave assurances that security agents in the state were resolved not to relent in giving perpetrators of crimes a tough time.

"We'll go for them. In fighting crime, we must keep the criminals on the move. We will diminish their capability. You will observe that because they cannot rob banks again, due to our proactive actions, there are pockets of robberies along the highways and we can assure that with sustained attack on them, Kogi will be inhabitable for them," he noted.

According to him, the bombed site, located on the top of a 10-kilometre mountain which took security operatives about three hours to climb "is where they manufacture bombs and dispatch to where they are to be used".

While describing the perpetrators as "devilish and desperate people", the security boss observed that the bomb makers were getting sophisticated,

On Monday, March 26, 2012 the SSS had discovered a factory used for manufacturing IEDs at Kabba, headquarters of Kogi-west senatorial district. 

Barely six days after, another IED-manufacturing outlet was discovered by the joint patrol team of army and SSS at Idoma area, Okene.
Then on Saturday, April 9, 2012, another bomb factory was found at Ogaminana, the headquarters of Adavi Local Government Area of the state..

The Commander, Army Records, Lokoja, Brigadier General Alphonsus Chukwu, said that one of the arrested terrorists led security operatives to the location.

He revealed that the source hinted that the Boko Haram sect had planned to launch an attack on Kogi State during the last Easter celebrations.

In Kano, the Joint patrol team of Policemen and armed robbers hunter Alhaji Ali Kwara  yesterday killed four members of an armed robbery gang  and recovered two hundred and sixty three (263) live ammunition.

Police spokesman in Kano state,  Musa Magaji  Majiya  told THISDAY that the armed robbers were ambushed after they were trailed along Ajingi to Wudil road, adding that four AK -47 riffle, Multipurpose machine gun ammunition (MMG) were recovered from them.

Majiya said on getting wind of the robbery, a police patrol team reportedly moved to the spot and confronted the robbers.

The eyewitness told THISDAY that the police opened fire on the armed robbers, leading to an exchange of gunfire. And when the “battle” ended, four of the suspects laid lifeless on the ground, with hot blood oozing out of their bodies.

THISDAY gathered that the armed robbers often attacked people at Gadar Janna, the same spot where late Abubakar Rimi was attacked two years ago.

The assailants are said to have been terrorising the busy road of Kano to Bauchi road in the state in recent times.

Meanwhile, a soldier whose identity is being withheld  by the military was gunned down on Saturday at Sharada industrial estate in the outskirt of Kano where the gunmen killed a civilian on Friday.   

Spokesman of the joint military task force (JTF) Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha said the deceased was not on military assignment when he was attacked and killed.

But an exultant Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi announced that the men and  of the Ogun state police command were able to foil a robbery  attack on the Kuto branch of Guaranty Trust Bank, in Abeokuta, the state capital.

In a statement by  Adejobi, the Kuto branch of GT Bank in the state capital came under attack by men of the underworld who stormed the bank as early as 5:00 a.m.

Adejobi said the robbers, who engaged men of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)  in a gun duel had laid siege at the branch of the bank  with various operating equipment such as hammers, methane gas, chisel etc., which they had hoped to use in gaining access to the banking hall.

He said the state’s special security outfit, the Quick Response Squad provided a timely back-up for the SARS team which forced the robbers to flee the scene with varying degrees of bullet wounds, abandoning their operating tools.

He however, stressed that the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye has ordered immediate investigation into the incident, appealing  to medical practitioners in the state to assist the public by exposing whoever approaches them for treatment of bullet wounds.

And impressed by the  co-operation between the state government with the Police authorities in  combating crime in the state, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Dikko Abubakar, has described Ogun State government as a role model  worthy of emulation in the area of crime fighting in Nigeria.
Abubakar  stated this in Abeokuta  after receiving  six  Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), 125 security vans fitted with communication gadgets and other equipment purchased by the state government for the use of security agencies in the State, said Governor Ibikunle Amosun has made history by the donation of the security equipment.

According to the Abubakar, “ this is the first time in the history of this state and Nigeria that this kind of donation would take place. I have done police job in every length of this country, I have served the six political zones of this country, so I can say there is no state in this country that has donated what you have donated in a single form”.

He stated that the donation of the security equipment has demonstrated the commitment, willingness and capacity  of the government to safeguard lives and property.