Buratai orders troops to stop hoodlums, looters nationwide

27 Oct Buratai orders troops to stop hoodlums, looters nationwide

The Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai on Monday warned hoodlums and criminals parading themselves as protesters looting warehouses and private properties and directed the military commanders and troops to go after them nationwide to stop the madness.

Addressing principal staff officers (PSOs), general officers commanding (GOCs) and field commanders at a meeting held at the Army headquarters, Abuja, Gen Buratai denied the allegation that the army masterminded the miscreants involved in the arson, vandalism and looting of public and private property going on in many cities.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa said the COAS warned the PSOs, GOCs and field commanders that there would be no room for disloyalty amongst all officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army.

Buratai reiterated the commitment of the army to ensure democratic stability in Nigeria. “The best system of governance is democracy and we must all ensure that Nigeria’s democracy remains stable and steady.

“We will not allow any force, elements or destabilising agents in or outside our country to set our beloved country on fire. “We remain resolute in doing everything possible to ensure that subversive elements, detractors and other enemies of this great nation do not achieve their aims and objectives of destabilisation”

Buratai stated that the events of the past few days in the country had shown the determination of some unscrupulous individuals and groups to

He said that those individuals, groups and other undesirable elements eventually hijacked the peaceful #EndSARS protest marches that resulted in widespread violence, acts of wanton destruction and looting of public and private properties in many parts of the country.

The COAS said that the army had been aware from the onset of the #EndSARS protest about the grand design by the sponsors of the protests to draw it into the crisis.

“Now the detractors alongside their local and international collaborators have mischievously and deliberately misrepresented troops’ efforts to ensure compliance with the curfew imposed by legitimate civil authorities in Lagos and other states. These agitators are falsely accusing the army of being responsible for the activities of the miscreants in spite of glaring evidence to the contrary.

“They have continually threatened to report the army to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and also threatened various forms of sanctions against personnel and their families.

“Thankfully, however, a large percentage of Nigerians and the international community have started seeing through the smokescreen of falsehood, and deliberate misrepresentation of facts being orchestrated by enemies of Nigeria and have retracted their earlier false publications,” he said.

Buratai stressed that the army had continued to exercise restraint and fully abided by the internationally recognised rules of engagement as contained in its published Standard Operating Procedures for Internal Security Operations.

The COAS, however, encouraged officers and soldiers not to be afraid of the ICC for carrying out their legitimate duties as stated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and other extant laws, rules and regulations of Nigeria.

He said they had every right under the constitution to carry out assigned and legitimate roles of maintaining law and order in aid of civil authorities and other security agencies.

He disclosed that “no fewer than 10 AK-47 rifles have been lost to these miscreants in the past two weeks across the country with the attendant loss of lives of personnel.”

The COAS, however, charged commanders to nip in the bud these emerging trends at all cost, and directed them to warn their troops on internal security or on guard duties outside the barracks to be at maximum alert at all times, and to also deal decisively with any attack on their duty locations.

According to him, there was no choice between a democratically united, strong and prosperous Nigeria and a nation disunited in a state of anarchy and retrogression.

“We must all strive for a united, strong, stable and progressive Nigeria,” he said.