Buhari Orders Deployment Of Military To ‘Troubled’ Zamfara Communities

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the military to bring bandits operating in rural communities in Zamfara state to book.

The Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday.

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The development follows fresh attacks on some communities in Shinkafi and Maradun Local Government Areas.

To enable the army carry out this new mandate, Shehu said the President has approved the request of the Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (retd.), for the stationing of a full battalion of Special Forces in Zamfara State, and the operationalisation of the newly-established 8 Division of the Nigerian Army in Sokoto in the new Order of Battle.

“The president has also approved the movement of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army from Sokoto to Gusau upon the take-off of the 8 Division),” the statement read.

Shehu said the president has also approved the setting up of an intelligence centre in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, in order to tackle suicide bombings.

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The president’s directive followed a suicide attack in Mubi, Adamawa on Tuesday, that left no fewer than 50 people dead.

“To tackle the desperate actions of Boko Haram terrorists in the north-east, through the use of mostly female, underage girls as suicide bombers, President Buhari has equally approved the setting up of an intelligence fusion centre in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for the purpose of gathering and sharing intelligence among the security agencies in the country,” the presidential spokesman said.

“This phase of the war will be intelligence-driven and the new centre is expected to intensify the harvesting and sharing of intelligence so as to bring to an early closure, the desperate last-minute activities of the terrorists.”

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