The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has assured Nigerians of the commitment of the new Service Chiefs to deal decisively with bandits and other criminals terrorising the country.
“Nigerians will no longer have anything to fear in terms of security,” he said on Tuesday in Gusau, when he led the Service Chiefs on a one day official visit to Zamfara State.
The CDS said during a courtesy call on Governor Bello Matawalle, attended by traditional rulers and religious leaders in the state, that the Service Chiefs were ready to deal ruthlessly with all criminals.
Irabor said: “We are aware of the expectations of Nigerians and we are here to deal with the bad people.
“It is time that we go back to the good times where people live happily and secured.
“We will use all our powers to deal with those who do not want us to live in peace.”
Irabor commended the efforts of Matawalle and the traditional rulers toward ensuring peace in the state.
In his remark, Chairman of the state Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, noted that bandits in the state had become jittery since the appointment of the new Service Chiefs.
Ahmad, who is also the Emir of Anka, advised all military formations to synergise while carrying out operations so that the criminals would have no way out.
The Emir appealed to the Federal Government to provide modern fighting equipment to the military and more incentives to soldiers in the frontline to boost their morale.
In his comment, Governor Matawalle explained that he had always tried to remove politics when it comes to the issue of security.
He told the Service Chiefs that the state peace and dialogue initiative was working, adding that it has saved many kidnap victims at no cost on the state government.
The governor however called for the deployment of more troops to deal with recalcitrant bandits.
He said: “With many of the recalcitrant bandits in our bushes, there is need for the deployment of more personnel to tackle these bad elements that are giving us sleepless nights.
“We also want to appeal for more fighting equipment, which should be located at all strategic movement points of the bandits in order to deny them pathway while the onslaught is being carried out against them.”
If these are in place, the troops should go into the bushes and hunt for the bandits instead of waiting until they struck, the Governor added.
According to Matawalle, such measures would facilitate the elimination of all the bandits operating in the North West zone.