‘Operation Python Dance’ was successful in South-east, says Army

From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha

THE Nigerian Army yesterday said that despite the initial disinformation, agitation and misplaced apprehension about the Exercise Python Dance launched by the military during the festive period, the record of achievements was huge and highly acknowledged by well meaning locals and visitors across the Southeastern region.
Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Col. Sagir Musa in a statement said that due to intensity of patrols, road blocks, raids and other activities in the Military Line of Operation, miscreants and criminals were denied freedom of action.
Musa said that as a result of the military exercise, most of the criminal elements fizzled out of the region into neighboring Delta and Rivers states.
He commended the media for the wonderful role they played while the exercise lasted, noting that the accounts of peace, law, order and secured environments in the entire Southeastern region occasioned by the exercise was widely circulated by the media.
He noted: “The political leadership, some elite and the locals in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States appreciated and differently voiced their commendations about the Nigerian Army.
“Also, most of the security challenges such as intra and inter communal crisis, farmers-herdsmen clashes, kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism as well as “trading in human misery” in the region were grossly reduced to the barest minimum. These menaces are and have been the focus and targets of this exercise and have so far been effectively achieved.
“Similarly, violent secessionist agitators and related divisive irredentist groups were silently suppressed. Consequently, the region was stabilised with an increased level of free movements and a boost in economic and social activities.”
Musa noted that even the annual gridlock on the Niger Bridge at Onitsha during the yuletide season was effectively remedied, while the yearly sufferings, inconveniencies and insecurity arising from traffic jam on the Asaba-Onitsha axis of the bridge were curtailed.
He said the seamless flow of traffic was achieved by own troops working in synergy with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigerian Police Force.
He said the exercise has further raised the image and reputation of the Nigerian Army in its struggles to end insurgency, crimes and criminalities across the nation, adding that a lot was learnt on real time situations during the exercise.