Major General Edward Buba, Director Defence Media OperationsThe spokesman of the Defence Headquarters, Major General Edward Buba was unequivocal about the military’s commitment and insisted that, “even as the armed forces mourn the tragic passing away of the COAS, Lt. Gen. T.A. Lagbaja, we will not allow his passing to derail our focus to destroy the terrorists. We are rather inspired by his actions on the battlefield as a war commander as well as his strong desire to defeat the terrorists in order to end the war.”
According to General Buba, “the terrorists know that they cannot match our military strength. The options open to them is to surrender or be killed in the battlefield. Accordingly, some terrorist leaders, commanders and combatants have indicated to surrender. We are opening a surrendering corridor for that purpose.”
He said in October 2024, troops neutralized 481 terrorists, and arrested 741 persons including terrorists and also rescued 492 kidnapped hostages.
“Accordingly, the military will continue work decisively to kill the terrorists, stop the insecurity in the nation and ensure the safety of citizens. The armed forces remain in a good and strong position in this war, and will win this war.”
In his words, “troops recovered 480 weapons and 9,026 assorted ammunitions, whilst they denied the oil theft of an estimated sum of close to N4 bn (N3,896,400.960.00) only.”
While giving the breakdown, General Buba said for the month of October, the military recovered 263 AK47 rifles, 81 locally fabricated guns, 91 dane guns, 76 pump action guns, 5,683 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and 1,944 rounds of 7.62mm NATO.
Others include 642 cartridges, 160 assorted arms and 1,526 assorted ammunitions as well as 3,226,645 litres of stolen crude oil, 763,860 litres of illegally refined AGO and 12,690 litres of PMS amongst other item.