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‘Why we withdrew troops from checkpoints in Plateau State’

By Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi (Jos) and Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan)
14 August 2019   |   4:25 am
Commander of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Major-General Augustine Agundu, has said the need to reinforce security in the hinterlands and check communal crisis informed the withdrawal of OPSH troops from checkpoints.

[FILE PHOTO] Nigerian Army

• Youths flay FG for Nigerians’ failure to renew document in Qater
Commander of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Major-General Augustine Agundu, has said the need to reinforce security in the hinterlands and check communal crisis informed the withdrawal of OPSH troops from checkpoints.He stressed that the decision to withdraw troops from major roads and other flash points on Jos/Bukuru metropolis was informed by the fact that the troops were mostly needed in the hinterlands.

He disclosed this yesterday at a dinner with troops of OPSH to mark the Sallah celebration.“The withdrawal is not to signal preparation to the end of the task force deployed to the state from the Defence Headquarters. It is to reinforce the hinterlands where there are challenges of inter-tribal feuds and other security issues,” he said. He pointed out that if not properly handled, the constant communal disputes could result in sectarian or untoward situations, adding: “What we have done is to enforce our presence in the rural areas, which are not easily reachable.

“The communities have already accepted and welcome the development. There are other security agencies also on the Plateau apart from OPSH. We have the Plateau State Police Command, the Plateau State Civil Defence Corps and Operation Rainbow, which is the state’s security outfit.

“Some of these cultists come from other states and that is why we encourage everybody on the Plateau to work with us so that Plateau doesn’t become a haven for all forms of crimes and criminality.”

Meanwhile, a youth group, the Yoruba Youth Socio-Cultural Association (YYSA), has chided the Federal Government over failure of Nigerians in Qater to renew their documents and visit the country during the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

Its National Secretary, Olawale Ajao, stated this in a statement in Ibadan, saying: “It is preposterous for Nigeria embassies not to have functional passport production machines. “We were disturbed when it was reported that Nigerians in Qatar were unable to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir with their families in Nigeria due to lack of functional passport production machine at Nigeria Embassy in the country to renew their documents.”

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