The Federal Government has assembled 1000-strong military force,
\ncomprising the army, air force, police and the civil defence to launch
\nfierce attacks on the bandits terrorising the villages and towns of
\nZamfara State.<\/p>\n
Following directives by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Air Force
\n(NAF) has begun the deployment of fighter aircraft to Katsina, the airport
\nwith the closest proximity to Zamfara State to make for immediate and
\neffective response to the menace of the bandits.<\/p>\n
This had not been possible in the past because there was no fuel depot
\nfacility in Katsina, but NAF has devised a way around the problem.<\/p>\n
The President has also authorised the engagement by NAF, of advanced
\nsatellite surveillance technology to help in accurate detection of
\nmovement and locations of the bandits.<\/p>\n
The government had to go to this extent because of the limitations of
\nconventional surveillance, as the use of satellite technology could make
\nthe task of NAF less\u00a0 problematic.<\/p>\n
Following directives from the President, at the weekend, the Chief of Air
\nStaff, Air Marshall Sadiq Abubakar, was in Gusau where he met the Deputy
\nGovernor of the State.<\/p>\n
The Chief of Air Staff reiterated the President\u2019s pledge that he would
\nnever abandon victims of attacks to their fate, reaffirming that security
\nremains one of the cardinal pillars of his campaign promises and no leader
\nwould be happy to see his own citizens killed by criminal groups across
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that since his election, the President has kept faith
\nwith his promises to re-equip and motivate the country’s military and
\nother security services.<\/p>\n
The army and other security services are now better equipped and motivated
\nto face the challenges of their responsibilities.<\/p>\n
The Presidency, therefore, appeals to all Nigerians to unite and speak
\nwith one voice on security issues and urges politicians to stop exploiting
\nnational security challenges.<\/p>\n
Those praying for the President to fail in this effort can be likened to
\none stabbing oneself in the heart and celebrating about it.<\/p>\n
In this regard, security should not be reduced to petty politics as doing
\nso could only embolden the terrorists and other murderous gangs.<\/p>\n
We therefore appeal to members of the Nigerian media to avoid unhelpful
\nand deleterious sensationalism in the coverage of events that border on
\nnational security.<\/p>\n
The media should under no circumstances make the bandits or terrorists
\nfeel like super stars because doing so could hurt all of us.<\/p>\n
Terrorists seek to achieve maximum publicity and they do so by launching
\nlarge scale attacks on soft targets and the media must resist every
\nattempt to play into their hands unwittingly.<\/p>\n
The Federal Government has assembled 1000-strong military force, comprising the army, air force, police and the civil defence to launch fierce attacks on the bandits terrorising the villages and towns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n