As a result of the killings taking place in Zamfara state over the months, the President has sent about 1,000 military force to the state.
President Muhammadu Buhari with George Weah and other personalities
The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari on Monday ordered the deployment of 1,000-strong military force to Zamfara State to combat insecurity.
He made this known on his Twitter handle, @MBuhari while talking about the agenda for the ECOWAS-ECCAS Summit in Lome, Togo. He said the top agenda would be peace and security.
He said; “I have authorized the deployment of a 1,000-strong Military Force to tackle the troubling security challenges in Zamfara. We have another Special Military Force, of about the same size, in Benue, covering Nasarawa and Taraba as well. In Plateau, we have Operation Safe Haven.
In the face of the evolving security threats, in the North Central and North West, we remain determined to neutralize every form of banditry and criminality. What we will never do is abandon any part of Nigeria to terrorists and criminals.”
The statement added:
"Peace and Security will be at the top of our Agenda at the ECOWAS/ECCAS Summit today in Lome, Togo. We will discuss ways of forging a decisive and lasting response to our common security challenges. Regarding security, a regional approach is just as important as a domestic one.
In the face of the evolving security threats, in the North Central and North West, we remain determined to neutralize every form of banditry and criminality. What we will never do is abandon any part of Nigeria to terrorists and criminals.
We are seeing improved cooperation between the Military, Police, DSS and Civil Defence Corps, and also prioritizing intelligence gathering; as well as increasing the use of air assets and surveillance technology to locate and neutralize the criminals responsible for these attacks.
Our security agents have arrested hundreds of suspects across the flashpoints, and investigations and prosecutions are ongoing in several cases. I acknowledge that more needs to be done in this regard; we are counting on the full cooperation of the Judiciary to achieve this."
See tweets: