By Muhyideen Jimoh
President Bola Tinubu says more than 13,000 terrorists had been neutralised in the past year as part of intensified efforts to combat insecurity across the country.
The president stated this on Friday in his Democracy Day address to the nation.
He said Nigeria had moved beyond routine military training exercises with international partners to more effective precision-targetting operations against terrorist groups.
Tinubu recalled that a recent operation in Arege, Borno, successfully degraded a command centre of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“We have moved from training with our allies, the United States, France and other European countries, to precision targetting.
“In Arege, Borno State, we degraded ISWAP’s command centre. Terror-related deaths are down by 81 per cent since 2015.
“Over 13,000 terrorists have been neutralised in the past year,” he said.
The president, however, said that the Federal Government remained committed to non-kinetic approaches to the fight against insurgency by providing opportunities for willing fighters to surrender and reintegrate into the society.
He said more than 124,000 insurgents and their dependants had laid down their arms since 2023 through the federal government’s Operation Safe Corridor programme.
“But we also keep the door of surrender open.
“Over 124,000 fighters and dependants have laid down their arms since 2023 through Operation Safe Corridor,” he said.
The president warned bandits, kidnappers and sponsors of terrorism to embrace peace or face the full force of the law.
“To bandits, kidnappers and sponsors of terror: surrender or face the full force of the Nigerian state.
“These windows of surrender will not remain open forever. No mercy will be shown to those who trade in the blood of Nigerians,” he said.
Tinubu urged Nigerians to remain united in the face of security challenges, stressing that criminality should not be viewed through ethnic or regional lenses.
“At a time like this, let us not assign blame or point fingers. Crime has no ethnicity.
“We must stand united and be assured that the enemies of our nation shall soon be history.
“We will triumph over terror and continue to build a more prosperous nation,” he said. (NAN)
