Nigerian Army has handed over some 706 assorted rifles recovered from bandits to the National Centre for The Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The Commanding Officer, 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Uwem Bassey announced the recovery of the arms during a briefing in Giginya Barrack, Sokoto.
General Bassey said the recoveries were part of the ongoing clearance operation code-named “Operation Hadarin Daji”.
The operation which, according to him, covered Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kebbi states, was meant to get rid of bandits and other criminal elements from these states as well as recover their weapons.
‘We’re handing over the weapons’
“We are making headways because we had cleared Bakura Hill, Gundumi forest and other bandits’ hideouts in Jibia among others,” General Bassey said, “And today we’re handing over the weapons we recovered from those operations.”
The operation, he explained, involved all armed Forces, Police and DSS, “and it was a continuous one because the enemies were mobile”.
He solicited for credible information to enable troops to bring the menace to a stop.
The senior army official also urged members of the media to always have national security at the back of their minds when reporting events.
“Because without the well-being of Nigeria, you cannot practice your profession,” he told them.
‘Maintain the tempo’
Receiving the recovered arms, the zonal Coordinator of the center in charge of the North-west zone, Air Vice Marshall Mohammed Haruna, commended the operation for achieving the feat.
“This shows that the operation is making a tremendous success,” he said.
“So we urge you to maintain the tempo.”
AVM Haruna also said he hoped to see an arms-free general election in 2023.
RN