... at their own area, a liter of fuel goes for about 10,000 naira there. So if you take 10 litres that's a 100,000 naira. So people are dragging things, taking the risk ...
The Theatre Commander Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI, Major General Christopher Musa has issued warnings to Nigerians especially the North East residents not to trade with Boko Haram or Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) Terrorists so that the 13 years insurgency in the region will come to an end.
Theatre Commander said, the 13-year insurgency has killed about 40, 000 people with $9.4 billion (N4. 23 trillion) worth of property in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
General Musa gave this warning while giving an update on the counter-insurgency operation in the region, the successes and challenges with SpyeTV News editor -in Chief who led her team on a courtesy call and familiarization visit to the Theatre Commander at his office, Headquarters Joint Task Force North OPHK, Maimalari Cantonment Maiduguri, the state capital.
He explained that the 13 years insurgency linked to armed groups, the terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISWAP so far disrupted livelihoods and has led to the displacement of some 2.2 million people which is still being encouraged because some people trade with them.
"One of the things we realise that is prolonging this issue is we have some individuals that sell food, fuel to them. For example, at their own area, a litter of fuel goes for about 10,000 naira there. So if you take 10 litres that's a 100,000 naira. So people are dragging things, taking the risk to go there and sell fuel to make money. We have people that go to market to buy stuffs to give them.
"So we are telling them a friend of a Thief is a Thief. So if we catch you doing those things we will treat you like one of them. Let us finish this thing so that normalcy could be restored. Let people live their lives. 13 years on this issue and still running, I think everybody should be tired. So we want to warn people, nobody should trade with them. Nobody should do any business with them. You don't have any business with them" he said.
The theatre commander however urged people living in the North Eastern part of Nigeria and Nigerians as a whole to give credible information to any military formations near them about the hideouts of terrorists for peace to restore completely to affected areas.
"Tell us wherever they are. We Will go and smoke them out. Let us have peace. The rainy season has started. Farming is going to return, we want farmers to go back to farm and fisherman, go back to their fishing, he added."
In addition, on the issue of unexploded ordinances, Major General Musa advised families with children at the rural areas in North East not to pick or allow their children play with any strange substances seen on the ground in their farms. It might be from terrorists. The unexploded explosive ordnance (the military explosives that did not explode or function as intended, but if touched or disturbed, UXO can cause injury or death.
"Now that people are going back to farms, a lot of these bombs that were thrown here and there some of them didn't explode. We wish to sensitise people especially children not to pick anything on the ground because the tendency is that when they pick, they start playing with it and then explodes. It's very, very dangerous. So we want to appeal to them. Please. You see anything like that in an Isolated area please report to the nearest military formation. We have EOD team that will come and detonate them or even the police, they have EOD Team, we work together so that everybody is safe. We appeal to members of public."
General Musa said, the military has done a lot of sensitisation programmes with the locals, a lot of drama, lectures, and announcements on radio in their local languages to educate them about unexploded explosive ordnance.
On the issue of scrap metal killed by the terrorists, the Theatre Commander pointed out that there have been warnings and sensitisation going on with the locals, especially the villagers not to move beyond some boundaries and not to do business with them they don't have any respect for human life. "You do business with them. They turn around and Kill you simple", he said.
"Some of them still deal with these monsters and got eaten by them. They were going for scrap metal, they too were struggling for Scrap metal, they met and something went wrong and they decided to kill them. So that's why we tell people we have areas we have cleared, we told them don't move beyond this area but you see people still going to them secretly because you want to go and do one funny thing or the other and then you ended up getting killed.
The Theatre Commander noted that military cannot be everywhere. Therefore, it is individual responsibility to stay safe, stay within the limit given. He revealed that soldiers were being deployed to guide farmers to their farms so that there will be smooth farming.
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