DHQ warns against breach of public peace
The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, on Sunday, said it was aware of some groups intending to cause breach of peace, just as it assured that the military and other security agencies will continue to sustain the current tempo against terrorists, oil thieves, cattle rustlers and such others. In a statement issued by Acting Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, the military warned that it “will not condone any unwholesome acts by persons or group seeking to engage in acts that are capable of causing breaking down of law and order in any part of the country.” In a similar development, President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly given fresh orders for the new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers to be hunted down and destroyed. The new militant group had been responsible for attacks on oil installations, blowing up Chevron’s platform linking Warri and Kaduna refineries on Friday and forcing the evacuation of a Royal Dutch Shell facility over the weekend. It was gathered that the president’s directive was issued on Friday but it has only been made public. The Niger Delta Avengers have attack several targets across the blighted region Chevron, after suffering loss due to the attack on the Okan offshore production platform on Wednesday by the militants, said it had lost 105,000 barrels of oil production in three days. According to AFP’s quote of Chevron’s spokeswoman, Isabel Ordonez, she said in a statement that approximately 35,000 bpd of Chevron’s net crude oil production in Nigeria are impacted.
“The President gave special instruction to the military, especially to the Chief of Naval Staff, that this ugly development of vandals in the Niger Delta should end immediately,” a presidential aide said. Gen. Abubakar also confirmed the directive handed down by the president while giving an interview on Saturday.
“We have the order from the president and we are monitoring the activities of the new group. All efforts will be made to bring out those behind it.” “The suspects who perpetrated the first vandalism were apprehended and paraded the day before yesterday. The president has come under mounting pressure to deal with Delta militancy recently “These ones are not going to be different. We are going out on our operation to stop and apprehend them in accordance with the presidential directive.”
“We are not deterred; nobody is happy about it but we are not deterred from doing what we are doing. And more proactive measures would be put in place,” he said. The DHQ asked citizens to refrain from taking laws into their hands and avoid actions that may cause breach to harmonious co-existence. It said individuals or groups seeking for relevance should follow the due process in accordance with the law of our land and not through acts of brigandage.
It also advised the general public to ignore inciting pictures, videos and statements posted in some social media platforms which are now confirmed to be the creation of photoshops with the intention of causing disharmony and divisions among different nationalities. It said the military and other security agencies would continue to sustain the current tempo against terrorists, oil thieves, cattle rustlers and other forms of criminalities and urge all law abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses and report any suspicious persons or object to the nearest security post for prompt action.
