Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, has issued a stern directive to troops in Kwara State to flush out all bandits from the region within one month.
During a visit to the Sobi Military Barracks in Ilorin, the state capital, Oluyede addressed soldiers, calling for urgent and decisive action to remove criminal elements from forests in two affected local government areas.
“I don’t want to see any footprints of those criminals within that Kainji Dam area in the next one month,” he said. “You’re out here, and I know you can do it. Make sure those people leave that place for us.”
The Army Chief warned that Nigeria could not afford to allow a repeat of the Boko Haram insurgency in any part of the country. “If they want to enter another country, that is their business,” he added, urging soldiers to forcefully clear the region of threats.
Oluyede reassured citizens that the situation in Kwara is isolated and would be dealt with swiftly. “What is happening in Kwara cannot threaten the sanity of Nigeria. It’s just an isolated case, and we’ll deal with it directly,” he said.
The visit comes amid rising security concerns in parts of north-central Nigeria, where banditry and attacks on rural communities have increased in recent months.