The Nigeria Defense Headquarters (DHQ), on Friday announced
the winding down of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS).
OPWS, launched on May 2018, with a mandate to end the
herders/farmers crisis, covers Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states.
The troops were also tasked to flush out all armed militia
gangs terrorising parts of Benue and Taraba.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Onyema
Nwachukwu, told newsmen in Gbise, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, that the
DHQ was not planning to immediately shot down the operation.
He said that even though OPWS had achieved its set mandate,
the proposed winding-up would be in phases.
“It is not an out right shutdown of the operation, so it is
not as if we are going to pack our bags and vacate the operational arena. That
is not going to happen. So, we don’t want anybody in Benue and Taraba States to
panic unnecessarily”, NAN quoted him as saying.
“What is actually going to happen is that we have a mission
and our mission fundamentally is to restore peace in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa
States and, to a very large extent, that mission has been achieved.
“There is going to be a draw down but not immediately. It
will be in phases. As we wind down the operation, we have some benchmarks that
have been put in place to ensure that there is no resurgence of this
criminality,” the General explained.
He said that the task force had also liberated Gbise
community, which was hitherto under the control of some criminal gangs, with
community members paying royalties to him.
The Force Commander, OPWS, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, who
also spoke, disclosed that the outfit had conducted 23 peace meetings with
stakeholders as a result of the Tiv/Jukum crisis.
Yekini said that the approach of OPWS was always two-phased
– kinetics and non-kinetics -, adding that it had helped in ending Tiv/Jukun
crisis.
He disclosed that a total of 55 members of criminal gangs,
who were either direct gang members or informants of notorious groups, were
arrested.
“Our first task was to liberate Gbise and Katsina-Ala Local
Governments from the grip of criminal gangs. These places have suffered so much
in the hands of these criminal elements and even formed almost a state within a
state.
“We felt that this shouldn’t be acceptable; we only have one
indivisible country and will not allow any criminal or hoodlums to terrorise
the public and carve out an empire for themselves.
“We are able to achieve our mission and the area is now
finally peaceful.”
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