Is the military worried that the JTF offensive in the Niger Delta has caused a huge humanitarian crisis in the region?
There is no huge humanitarian crisis in the region. It is you and your colleagues who are making the situation appear so. You must have learnt that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has set up camp to cater for displaced persons, providing shelter and other relief materials for those affected by the crisis. Before the operation commenced, everything that needed to be put in place was considered.
In the course of the operation, we ensured that an effective mechanism was in place to respond to any emergency. And if you consider the speed with which NEMA mobilised to the place, you will realise that it was carried along and that proper planning was done before the operation began.
The fact that people, most of them innocent residents, have been killed or displaced should be of concern to any well-meaning person. Did you not foresee this likelihood at the planning stage?
Before the operation, the militants were routinely killing innocent people. They were robbing banks and taking people, including expatriates, hostage and demanding ransom. The level of criminality in the place was intolerably high.
I am sure you remember the 11-year-old girl who was shot by the militants because she was trying to stop her sister from been kidnapped. Did you in your good conscience condemn this criminal action? Did you sensitise the public about the implication of this criminal action for our country?
Before asking me that question, did you consider the several deaths and instability in the area when the militants had a free reign?
What the JTF is doing is to secure the rights of the majority of this country. Let us be sincere to ourselves: Nigeria is our country and no responsible government will fold its arms and allow a few criminal elements to continue to wreck havoc on the nation.
The activities of the militants have been a sad experience for our country. They were abducting and killing innocent people. You definitely would not expect the government to do nothing.
But some people have accused the military of having escalated the crisis in the region. They also claim that some military top brass were involved in oil bunkering and had been romancing the militants over time.
That kind of accusation has no basis. Will it be right for me to say journalists collect money from the militants to write favourable stories for them, even when I have no evidence? It is unfair and unprofessional to make allegations against people without evidence.
The Nigerian military is not known to cover up any of its men involved in any misconduct. But we take exception to people falsely accusing our men and officers of crime. It is not enough to make allegations; there must be evidence to back it up.
The JTF says it wants to fish out the top militants in the area. With Tompolo and his clique still on the run, it does not appear that the two-week offensive has achieved anything tangible.
The main objectives of the operation are to smoke out the militants troubling the area, mop up illegal arms and put an end to illegal bunkering. We have substantially achieved that, as the result of the operation is there for all to see. Tell me, ever since the operation started, how many people have been held hostage or killed?How many banks have been robbed? How much oil bunkering has been reported in the area?
For how long will the operation last?
For as long as necessary.
Will the JTF conduct a similar operation in the other states in the region?
Leave that for the JTF to handle. But I can assure you that the task force will move into anywhere where militants are breaching the peace and causing fear and instability. We learnt on good authority that the military did not get the consent of the President before the JTF launched its offensive.
Does that make sense to you? Who is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces? Is it not the President? So, why will anybody say that our C-in-C has no knowledge of any operation we are carrying out? The fact is that the President believes in the military and knows our capacity. He gave us a mandate that we should check the criminality in the Niger Delta. And that is exactly what we are doing.
At what point in a crisis is the military supposed to be deployed to carry out the kind of operation been carried out by the JTF?
Part of our role is to safeguard vital national assets and interest. In carrying out that responsibility, we will not allow a criminal group to hold the country to ransom.
There are people who consider what is happening every day. It is the threat analysis they provide that guide us on what step to take. If there is need for reinforcement, we do so immediately to safeguard national stability.
Civil society has been livid with the government over the operation. There are even some who are saying that the President should be arraigned before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
What role has the civil society played in checking the criminality in the region? Do members of the civil society love this country than you and I? Do they love this country more than the President? In whose table does the buck stop?
It is on the President’s, not that of the civil society. The President has sworn to defend the Constitution of this country and guarantee the safety of every citizen and visitors to our country. We have the mandate of assisting him to achieve that. And in doing so, there are checks and balances in the country. We have the National Assembly and the judiciary closely monitoring what we do.
And we have always ensured that in an operation such as this, we operate within the bounds of professionalism, legality, rule of law and use of minimal force.
Would you say that you used minimal force in this operation?
Yes, of course. If you know our capacity, you will agree with us that we have not deployed our arsenal. What we have used so far are small caliber weapons.