Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has charged troops of the 81 Division in Lagos to go after criminals, including kidnappers, pipeline vandals and hard drug peddlers operating between Lagos and Ogun State.

General Lagbaja gave the charge in Lagos while flagging off a military maneuver code named EXERCISE STILL WATER, saying that: “This exercise is one of the Nigerian Army’s major exercises designed to ensure safe end-of-year activities and will run from today 10 October 2023 to 5 January 2024”.

General Lagbaja said the location of Exercise STILL WATERS III indicates that it is not a drill or mere training exercise but a real-life military operations with a robust Rule of Engagement (ROE) that has been designed to meet the challenges of the contemporary security environment in the South-South and South-West zones.

He lamented that the South-South and South-West zones of Nigeria are confronted with piracy, illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, cultism, militancy, and other related crimes that threaten Nigeria’s collective peace and economic activities, adding that , “these threats to our national security have assumed a dangerous dimension, warranting prolonged military deployments in aid of civil authority torestore law and order. Unfortunately, the hitherto episodic military deployment in aid of civil authority has become somewhat unending, with almost every community requesting permanent military deployments to secure lives and properties”

The Army Chief said that the force had been,“hindered by the challenge of finite resources in terms of manpower and combat enablers, noting that, the Nigerian Army had continued to modify its concepts of operations to manage these genuine demands for troop deployment.

“One such strategy for striking a balance between demand for troops deployment and available resources is conducting NODUF or real-life exercises. The majority of these exercises are usually conducted annually, in the last quarter, as part of the Nigerian Army’s efforts to, together with its sister services, support the civil authorities in managing the spike in criminal activities often associated with year-end activities.

The Chief of Army Staff said that in order to achieve maximum effects across the Country, the Nigerian Army would simultaneously conduct two other exercises with Exercise STILL WATERS III this year. These exercises are Exercise ENDURING PEACE III in the North-Central States of Benue, Kogi, and Nasarawa, as well as the Federal Capital Territory and Exercise GOLDEN DAWN II in the South East zone.

He said that the primary goal of these exercises is to create a conducive environment for socio-economic activities to flourish in the last quarter of the year and enable people to celebrate the season without fear.

The exercises would equally afford the Nigerian Army to practice its formations and units in Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) as part of strategy to support the civil authority to eliminate all forms of threat to security across the Country.

His words: “As I flag off Exercise STILL WATERS III, which also signifies the commencement of Exercise ENDURING PEACE III and Exercise GOLDEN DAWN II, I implore commanders at all levels and their men to be guided by the laid down Rules of Engagement. Nigerian Army personnel must understand that we are out to help solve a problem and not become a problem to the society we are out to support.
“Therefore, troops must conduct themselves properly and professionally and be exemplary in discharging their duties, commanders must, in line with our operational design, ensure that their kinetic line of operations to decimate criminals in their Areas of Responsibility is suitably complemented by a carefully designed non-kinetic line of operation in the form of Civil-Military Cooperation activities that aims to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population in their areas.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sunnewsonline.com/go-after-criminals-in-lagos-ogun-army-chief-charges-soldiers/%3famp

What then is the duties of policemen? In Nigeria everything is turned upside down

freemanq:
What then is the duties of policemen? In Nigeria everything is turned upside down

To collect bribe and lie

Now soldiers are doing police work, what would police be doing and who will do soldiers work .

When will they go after the criminal General of the federation

The end is near

While all of you are focused on Ukraine, Israel, etc

America is about to burn

Yes, your America.

They want to do some magic again - Tinubu ti sun awon Yoruba elders ti ku.

There is a global agreement to use Islam to force the people into loyalty. UK is part of the plans.

🤔

yeah welcome development



for those that started hating on Yorubas for no reason


una MIND no go touch ground

Soldiers going after criminals

What kind of government is this?

What is the work of the police

optionalY09:
They want to do some magic again - Tinubu to sun awon Yoruba elders to ku.

There is a global agreement to use Islam to force the people into loyalty. UK is part of the plans.

Yet the UK is providing strategic assistance to the State of Israel against Hamas ? Sometimes I wonder if some of you lots have stones as brains

...while police go after Boko Haram in sambisa forest.

I'm confused What again is the work of the military? Police? I don't get this at all.

I honestly do not subscribe to this idea of soldiers leaving their barracks. They have no business with civilian matters. The COA is trying to introduce duplicity of duties and roles which will ultimately descend into chaos, brawl and trading of fires between the police and the army. The COA needs to rethink this directive for the interest of the large people of Ogun and lagos and Nigeria in general.

Blacks are a different breed.

Y not go after them in d North

Army is not trained to handle this kind of criminals. Make una encourage police and NCDC with more community-based policing to nip crime in the bud

I know where one criminal in Lagos is located.

freemanq:
What then is the duties of policemen? In Nigeria everything is turned upside down

To arrest innocent people as suspects of a crime, after armed robbers must have operated for hours unchallenged!

Relocate them to anambra.

freemanq:
What then is the duties of policemen? In Nigeria everything is turned upside down

kettykin:
Now soldiers are doing police work, what would police be doing and who will do soldiers work

The army is involved in policing because the police is poorly funded. That is even before we mention corruption

In 2019, NPF got approx 1 billion dollars equivalent in naira to police 220 million people.

New York city in the USA, got 10 billion dollars to police 25 million people .

Ireland got 5 billion to police it's tiny population.

UK spent the equivalent of half of our budget to police 60 million people

The NPF as a result is so lean and weak that it cannot adequately cater for itself. It is even a miracle that it can do the little it does

Then we don't have adequate records, forensics, even things like CCTV camera

Yes corruption is there. Very well. But before we even mention corruption, the fact is the police is in a bad state even

Hence the need for the army sometimes (also terrorism is more of the army and domestic intelligence remit)


( my comment does not mean I am excusing tinubu or excusing corruption)

Modifed

My comment also does not mean I support or agree with the army doing the work of the police either

Expect plenty stray bullets

All is well, Nigeria