Military vows crackdown on security threats ahead of handover

The Defence Headquarters has vowed to resist anything that would truncate democracy.

The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, stated this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, just as the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, threatened to crack down on potential threat to national security.

He warns the Indigenous People of Biafra, Eastern Security Network and other fringe groups not to test the will of the military.

He says the peaceful conduct of the general elections despite the insecurity engineered by the outlawed groups was a testament to the military’s resolve to ensure security across the country.

You’ll remember that the Department of State Services alerted the nation to a plot by unnamed politicians to scuttle the transition process and install an interim government.

While that is ongoing, Chilota Dunu, one of the leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in Enugu state, has condemned in strong terms, last week’s killing of innocent IPOB members in Aba by security operatives.

The slain Biafran agitators were on street protest over the continued detention of their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Dunu laments the frequency with which security operatives attack IPOB members unprovoked, killing and maiming them.

He wonders what was wrong in IPOB members demanding for the release of their leader who he says has even been freed by the Court of Appeal.

Dunu says he did not know when peaceful protest for the release of their leader held unjustly had become unlawful to warrant a joint-security operatives unleashing attacks on innocent armless IPOB members.

Meanwhile, scores have been feared killed after gunmen reportedly invaded communities in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Authorities say that they suspect the assailants were herdsmen.

Sources say the invaders stormed the communities shooting sporadically, and burning hundreds of houses in the raid.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, James Adah, was among those killed in the attack.

Many residents are said to have fled the communities in the wake of the assault even as it remains unclear what the reason behind the invasion was.

In a related development, the Kaduna State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Sabon Garin Nassarawa communities in the Chikun Local Government Area of the state following the killing of two persons.

According to a short statement by the state commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, the curfew is with immediate effect.

Aruwan also says the decision was reached following a breakdown of law and order that led to loss of two lives in an incident of urban gang violence.

The commissioner adds that security agencies have been directed to enforce the curfew in the area and restore order, while investigation into the incident has commenced.