The Nigerian military has warned bandits terrorizing Zamfara and other contagious states to surrender or die from troops’ firepower.
This is as it expressed commitment to taking the fight against banditry to the terrorists in their enclaves.
Theatre Commander of the newly established Operation Fansar Yamma, Major General Oluyinka Soyele, issued this warning during a visit to Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State at the Government House in Gusau, the State capital.
According to him, the only option the terrorists have is to surrender.
Recall that Zamfara has been the epicentre of banditry and its people continue to face deadly attacks, abductions and killings for over a decade now.
In recent times, the ever-busy Gusau-Funtua Highway has experienced attacks daily from fleeing terrorists.
Soyele assured that NAF is more than ready to launch an onslaught against the daredevil terrorists, to flush them out of Zamfara and other troubled parts of the Northwest zone.
He added that the support of the people to the troops is crucial to winning the ongoing war against the terrorists.
To this end, he called on the people to furnish the troops with timely and adequate information that could help them root out the terrorists from their hideouts.
“We are more committed than ever to make sure that Zamfara State and all other Northwest states and part of the North Central are free from all terrorist activities, we are much more than ready to take the battle to them, it is either they surrender or they die.”
“We are making efforts to reach out to the local communities and heads of some villages, we are trying to let them know that it is only by their support that will make us overcome the menace of terrorism in the state, it is not by aiding the bandits, alongside kinetic Operation we are also going to conduct non-kinetic operation”
Meanwhile, the Governor of Zamfara, Dauda Lawal has noted that the state government is aware of the terrorists’ attacks on the ever-busy Gusau-Funtua highway and is ready to deal with the challenge to restore normalcy and peace.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, had during his visit to Lawal, announced the establishment of a new theatre operation codenamed Operation Fansar Yamma.
This entails that Operation Hadari Daji and other operations in the Northwest zone would be collapsed into the new theatre operation.