The Brigade Commander, 23rd Amour Brigade Yola, Brig. Gen. Bello Mohammed
has declared that the Nigerian Army will no longer condone killings
under any guise.
He expressed sadness that seven policemen and two soldiers lost their
lives within the past two months as a result of Numan sectarian crisis
involving herdsmen and farmers.
Mohammed, who spoke on Thursday in Yola while addressing a town hall
meeting of stakeholders, sounded a final warning to those involved.
The senior officer said the military would henceforth be hard on
those who failed to embrace peace and dialogue in resolving differences.
“The crisis that initially started in Numan and environs spread to
four LGAs namely; Girei, Demsa and Lamurde, and later to parts of
Taraba.
“Sadly, the measures and strategies employed by security agencies
have not yielded the desired effect; the stakeholders have regarded our
soft handedness measures as weakness and incapable of dealing with the
situation.
“Henceforth, we members of the security agencies forum have
collectively resolved to tackle this mayhem and unwarranted killings at
all cost.
“The first deliberate step towards permanently resolving this issue
is this town hall meeting. It is part of soft power approach to internal
security situations, it would be followed by hard and smart power
approaches. To be forewarned is to be forearmed,” Mohammed said.
While lamenting that elites, politicians and traditional rulers in
the affected areas were not helping matters in addressing the problem,
Mohammed said warring parties were also fond of over reacting and mostly
on baseless and unconfirmed information.
The brigade commander said that as part of measures taken by security
agents to tackle the security situation in Numan, resisting an arrest
or obstructing security personnel from carrying out their duties would
be considered as serious offense.
He listed other offences as unlawful assemblies and possession of arms by persons in affected communities.