Former field commander of the Special Task Force Operation Safe Haven, and a security consultant for AU and ECOWAS, Retired Major General Anthony Atolagbe has said that the basic military training of new recruits at army training depots will improve security across Nigeria.
He said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.
“You now see a situation where by the time this training is completed, more of the ungoverned spaces are going to be taken.
“So you now see a situation where- we used to have a situation before whereby we clear some places and then we keep moving forward without generally occupying these locations. By the time these troops are inserted now, any place that is cleared is also occupied. So you now see a situation where based on the graduation that I talked about, military continue to move into the tougher spaces, then the counter-terror police also move into perhaps the next level maybe at level four where military is at level five, and then you still at level three also maybe a combined military and police or NSCDC working together. So these are some of the conditions you will start seeing on the ground as long, I mean, as soon as these troops are being turned out”, he said.
Speaking on military casualties, Gen. Atolagbe said soldiers are paid to face danger and casualties can occur because warfare is unpredictable.
“Well, I think that is from the perspective of a civilian. Because we are paid to do this job and anything could also happen. Imagine that without necessarily going into the front to go and confront someone, a bomb just drops at a location where the commanding officer is. These are some conditions that present itself in such a manner that they’re situations you cannot just avoid.”
The Retired General further revealed over 100 abducted persons escaped during military pressure in Sambisa, while about 460 people have been freed nationwide in the last two months, according to Defence Headquarters.
“In Sambisa, some abducted people were freed. In fact, the first thing that happened was that over a hundred of them escaped based on the heat that was brought on the adversary. And then after that, as the movement continued, you now saw a situation where more and more people… across the entire space within the country, as reported by DHQ, about 460 or 500 people have been freed just in the last two months”, he shared.
Maj. Gen. Atolagbe added that rescuing hostages comes first in operations, and new security satellites will help track and apprehend criminals more effectively once deployed.
“Now, what I can say is this: last year Nigeria was supposed to launch about four satellites, because these are the things that are going to help us out. And one of them, you will ask me, what has the past government been waiting for when we have this level of insecurity and we’ve not been able to actually have one that we can use to cover the entire space. The questions that Nigerians are asking, you’re asking yourselves, right? Do you get me? So you now see a situation, as I’m explaining, among these four satellites, one of them is actually designed for the security of this nation. And when it is launched, you can almost pick everything.
“You can almost pick everything. You can pick car number plates, you can pick people from their houses. Simple tech I was using when I was SCF commander, I walked into people’s rooms to go and pick them, these equipment are available”, he said.
Addressing government preventive measures on the fight against insecurity, Anthony Atolagbe said claims about actions taken are debatable, but he speaks from personal experience with those affected.
“These are debatable assertions because when people say certain things are being done, government says it’s not done. We, we may not be able to know the position to take on that. But I can tell you that I’ve been close to people who have experienced this thing and I’m talking empirically”, he explained.
Stressing the need for the military to occupy more space and deploy more personnel, Maj. Gen. Atolagbe said:
“I’m just trying to say that, look, as far as the military is concerned, as far as the security agencies are concerned, what actually is being expected of them now is just to take in more troops, occupy the space, then take in more policemen. Let them be dispersed enough within the Nigerian territory and we’re not talking about just starting to train and stopping.
“We’re talking about a continuous kind of training. We are not even talking about where are they going to stay if the whole operation subsides? We are just pumping them into the field now and to make sure that the space is well-occupied. If forest guard is there, if state police is there, if the military is increased, if military, the police is taken away from the jobs that they are doing and another 50,000 of them is, is trained and pushed into this space, I can tell you that something very reasonable will be achieved”, he assured.
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