The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa has said that the Nigerian military is closer to ending insurgency and banditry in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television’s Prime Time Show, the Minister said terrorrists and bandits are aware of the crackdown against them and have resorted to launching unprovoked attacks.
He said, “I think we’re closer now than ever before. You’ll keep on getting one story or the other about one attack or the other; it’s a large country and what they normally do is, wherever we have cleared and have moved forward, they come behind and want to attack.
“And the idea, is to give that sense of insecurity but I can tell you that tell you broadly is that things and the atmosphere are getting a lot better than they used to be, but we need to do more.
“And of recent, we had a lot of directives from Mr President to do more and we have also brought forward what our challenges are and Mr President is addressing those challenges,” Musa said.
He also said that the security agencies and personnel are getting the needed support from the current administration led by President Bola Tinubu.
Musa also urged Nigerians across various communities to ensure they support the military and its personnel to ensure that insurgency and banditry are completely flushed from the country.
“We are getting additional platforms, additional support and I urged Nigerians that they should continue to be very positive.
“See, why these guys are thriving is because we have certain individuals that still support them — trying to trade with them.
“I can tell you, how do they maintain themselves, how do they get fuel? How do they get food in the bushes? They are people who take these things with them, which give them information about troops’ movements and provide these logistics and information to them.
“If Nigerians decide today… communities that have decided not to support them are free. So that’s why it’s important for Nigerians to understand that security men cannot be everywhere. Everybody has a responsibility to offer support to the Armed Forces and once you see something going wrong, report as quickly as possible,” Musa said.