Friday, May 9, 2025 - The Defence Headquarters has revealed that many of the herders and terrorists behind recent spate of violent attacks on communities in Benue, Plateau, and other parts of the country are foreigners who have infiltrated Nigeria through porous borde
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Markus Kangye,
disclosed this while speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, May 8,
2025.
According to him, the identities and languages of the
assailants have helped security forces confirm that many of the attackers are
not Nigerians.
“Well, when you hear them talk in some instances, you will
be able to decipher whether these people are from here or not. For instance, if
I speak Hausa and my brother from the South East speaks Hausa, you’ll know that
this Hausa is a borrowed one and Hausa language like any other language has
different versions and intonations,” he said.
"If somebody from Sokoto for instance speaks Hausa and
my friend from Katsina speaks Hausa you’ll notice some differences.
"The Hausa language we speak in Nigeria is different
from that of Mali, Central Africa Republic and Ghana. ”
He added that apart from their language, their hair also
showed they are not Nigerians.
"So when we arrest these herders and terrorists from
the way they speak, it is clear and even from their hair, you will tell you
that they are not from Nigeria.
“I think the only community in Nigeria that has hair similar
to the Shuwa in the Sahel region is probably the Shuwa Arabs in Borno State but
they don’t even have the same."
Kangye noted that while some Nigerian herders also get into
conflict with farmers, the most violent incidents are largely driven by
infiltrators.
“One will also admit that many of those terrorising our
people are foreigners even though some of them are also Nigerians,” he
said.
"There are some herders that are Nigerians that also
get involved in the process of rearing their cows then they encroach into these
farms and then before you know it conflict ensued between the farmers and the
farmers, and these are the issues we are trying to solve.
"But know that most of the violence and incessant
killings you are hearing in some parts of this country are perpetrated by
mostly those that find their way into the country through our porous borders.
He called for stronger inter-agency collaboration to monitor
Nigeria’s borders and ensure that all entrants are accounted for.
Highlighting the military operational success, Kangye
announced the arrest of a notorious gunrunner and kidnapping kingpin, Buhari
Umar, who has been terrorizing communities in Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, and
Kaduna States.
He said troops also apprehended a five-man kidnapping
syndicate in Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The suspects were identified as Hassan Mohammed, Saleh Sani,
Idi Yusuf, Adamu Danmai, and Hassan Bello.
The military, according to Kangye, also neutralised
scores of terrorists, including a wanted leader identified as Nkwachi Eze, also
known as Onowu, who had been coordinating multiple attacks and kidnappings
across the South East.
In April, he said troops rescued 173 kidnapped victims,
while over 204 terrorists and their family members surrendered to Nigerian
forces.
"A total of 430 suspected oil thieves and other
criminals were also arrested. In operations targeting economic sabotage, troops
of Operation DELTA SAFE foiled oil theft valued at over N1.93 billion in just
one week
“Items recovered included over 1 million
litres of stolen crude oil, hundreds of thousands of litres of illegally
refined petroleum products, and the destruction of 95 illegal refining sites,”
he added
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