Military will end attacks by herdsmen soon, says Olonishakin

The Nigerian military has assured that it would soon combat Fulani herdsmen unleashing terror on the citizens across the nation.

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonishakin, while speaking on the successes recorded by the military in crushing Boko Haram insurgents, said it has become necessary to end the activities of the herdsmen and other criminal gangs nationwide.

Olonishakin, who was represented by the Acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Abubakar Rabe addressed journalists in Kaduna at the weekend. He said the military would soon put a stop to the deadly activities of the herdsmen who have ravaged many communities and destroyed lives and property.

According to him: “We are coming up with Operation Accord. It is an operation initiated by the Defence Headquarters to tackle the activities of herdsmen. I believe as soon as it becomes operational this issue of incessant clashes between herdsmen and communities will be a thing of the past.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of lives and property of the citizens wherever they are.”

Explaining the successes recorded by the military against Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, Olonishakin said: “Boko Haram is gone and gone forever. The armed forces have done everything possible to dislodge them and they are 100 per cent contained.

“Our countrymen and women have testified to what we have done. It now remains the total commitment and mobilisation to ensure that the interests of criminal groups are not protected. What they want is just for them to be noticed and when they do anything they should be heard.”

The defence chief added: “There is no country in the world that contains insurgency within a time span of seven years like Nigeria. Mali had to send their military chief to come to learn from us on what we have done to contain the activities of the Boko Haram group.”