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Philip Nwosu, Lagos
The Nigerian Army in Lagos has issued a quit notice to cultists and other criminal elements operating within the state, to leave or be ready to confront the fire power of the force.
The Army said members of the Badoo gang and pipeline vandals operating around the Ikorodu, Ishawo, Arepo and Festac areas of Lagos and Ogun, should learn from what happened to the notorious Rivers State cultists Don Waney and his group, warning that it would not spare any criminal operating within Lagos and Ogun.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Major General Enobong Udoh, handed down the warning while briefing students of the German Armed Forces General Staff College, who were on a study tour to the Division.
“As you must have heard, I have been to so many places, I have been to the northeast, and I was the GOC of 6 Division before I came here. Now that I am here, as you heard, there are some peculiar threats in this area of responsibility, threats that have to do with the metropolitan nature of Lagos, threats that have to do with the complexities of having so many formations of the Nigerian Army in Lagos.
“There is this particular threat of Badoo, who are cultists that operate in the night, and since I came here the threat is almost non-existent, but be that as it may I am an operational man, I will never live with this threat, I want to assure you that I will combat these threat to ensure that they are wiped out completely.
“I succeeded in doing that in the Niger Delta in the past one year and I can assure you that it will not be different here. So the cultists either turn a new leave or quit these states.”
General Udoh who was the General Officer Commanding in 6 Division in Port Harcourt and whose troops killed the notorious Don Waney and also led troops to rescue the Chibok Girls in Borno state, said he has the experience and pedigree to combat the Lagos-based cult gangs and pipeline vandals.
Earlier, while briefing the students, the Division said Nigeria has spent $43 million to repair pipelines damaged by vandals in 2016, adding that 340 pipelines were broken within five months within the Division’s area of responsibility.
Aside that it was learnt from the division that N3.8 trillion was lost to vandals in 2016 alone, explaining that 32 abduction cases were recorded between 2016 and 2017.
The Division also revealed that its Operation Iron Fence was launched to prevent fleeing Boko Haram terrorists from setting up a haven in Lagos.
