•It’s a big relief to our people, he says •CDS seeks public support for operation
OPERATION Savannah Shield officially took off in Kwara State on Thursday, in what is a combined effort of the government and security forces to rout “all enemies of state” in Kwara and neighbouring states.
The flag-off was done by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, at the Sobi Barracks in Ilorin, the headquarters of the multi-agency operations which President Bola Tinubu had approved for Kwara in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Kaiama and parts of Niger State a few weeks ago.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, the governor commended the president for the swift response to his distress call on the activities of terror groups and other criminal networks such as kidnap gangs.
He called the take-off of the operations a big relief to the people of the state, saying that banditry and terrorism are not just about national security but a big threat to food security, as the most affected areas are among the farming belts of the country.
He said, “Let me first of all thank the Commander-in-Chief, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the deployment of Operation Savannah Shield, which will cover the entire Kwara State and parts of Niger State. This is a great relief.
“We have seen the escalation of bandit activities, especially in Kwara North, South and parts of Niger State, over the past one year.
But we have also seen that security agencies have stepped in and the situation in Kwara South has vastly improved.
“Kwara North remains a greater challenge, and that is why we have Operation Savannah Shield being inaugurated today.
“One is really impressed at the short time this deployment has taken place. I thank the Chief of Defence Staff for making this happen very quickly. We are truly relieved, and people will sleep better now.”
In a brief interview with reporters when the CDS visited the governor in Ilorin on Thursday, he said: “I am herein Kwara, first, to visit His Excellency and to personally commiserate with him over some recent occurrences, and to inform him that we are here to see how we can checkmate all the atrocities committed by the enemies of state.
“So, we are here to flag off joint task force nicknamed Operation Savannah Shield, and under that umbrella we’ll have the Army, Navy and Air Force components and we believe that with our robust approach we should be able to checkmate the activities of these enemies of state going forward. That’s simply why I’m here.”