The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has assured the people of Agatu, a riverside community in Benue that days of horror from herdsmen are over.
The air chief gave the assurance on Friday in Agatu while inaugurating the Quick Response Wing of the Air Force.
He said that the unit was activated to deal with cases of insurgency as well as other criminal activities in the local government area.
Sadique said the unit was one of many of its type situated in other parts of the country to deal with such cases.
He said: “We have them in Nasarawa, Ngorje in Taraba, and Owerri, to handle emerging security challenges in those states.”
He said the directive for the activation of the quick response units across the country was given by President Muhammadu Buhari in his bid to tackle mounting cases of insurgency in the country.
The CAS, who refused to declare the military capacity of the unit, however, said that it was sufficiently equipped to deal with any emerging security threat in the area.
He said: “If anybody wants to embark on a suicide mission, they can try any such thing in this place. I assure you that we will deal with them.
“From now, you can sleep with your two eyes closed.”
He said that there were plans to upgrade the facility to contain 500 Special Forces and expand hostels to ensure that the local government was well secured.
“This unit has come to stay; we will remain here forever. We will never allow the criminal elements to disturb the peace of this people.
“We also plan to build a helicopter base for our gunships to land, in case our forces need aerial support in case of attack.”
He said that the response wing and borehole built by the NAF would be used to protect human lives and provide potable water to the host communities.
The air chief said the borehole was constructed to alleviate the water challenges of the people, who sourced drinking water from the river.
Sadique said: “We are here to support you, to add value to your well-being and support the community to make sure nobody threatens you any longer.’’
He also assured them that the military unit would carry out a seven-day free medical outreach for the natives and would fly some with complicated cases to headquarters in Makurdi for further treatment.
Sadique, however, asked the host communities to understand the reason why they were in the community and urged them to volunteer useful information on activities of criminals to officers.
In her remarks, Chairman of Agatu Council, Comfort Alhassan, commended the Federal Government for siting the military unit in the area.
She said: “We have confidence in the military to save us from the brutal attacks of the herders and prevent the killing of our people.”
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