18th November, 2020
By Stanley Nwanosike
Nigerian Army on Wednesday asked criminals within South-East and Cross River to surrender all arms and ammunition in their possession.
Maj.-Gen. Lasisi Adegboye, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Nigerian Army gave the order while declaring open a two-day Inter-Agency Training Workshop for Exercise Crocodile Smile VI in Enugu on Wednesday.
“It is in this light that Exercise Crocodile Smile VI is being formally flagged off in Enugu with this interactive workshop,’’ he said.
He said that criminal elements in the South-East and Cross River “are hereby warned in their own interest to desist from their nefarious activities.’’
The GOC assured criminals within the South-East and Cross Rivers States that they would surely be met with decisive and appropriate actions by the security agencies.
“The exercise is part of the Nigerian Army constitutional role of acting in aid to civil authority in combating the various security threats faced by the affected regions.
“The main objective of the exercise is to combat and reduce to the barest minimum, the prevailing security challenges in the South-East and Cross Rivers State, which falls within the Area of Responsibility (AOR) of the division.
“To this end, the formations and units of the division located in the five states in the South-East and Cross River State have already commenced the exercise,’’ he said.
According to him, in order to consolidate on the successes achieved by Nigerian Army operations/exercises, the Chief of Army Staff directed army formations in the country to conduct the exercise.
“The exercise will also include the conduct of civil-military cooperation activities in order to sustain the excellent civil-military relationship in the region.
“It is in this light that Exercise Crocodile Smile VI is being formally flagged off in Enugu with this interactive workshop,’’ he said.
The GOC said the lectures and accompanied interactive sessions in the workshop were designed to bring all participating stakeholder on the same page.
He said the essence was to ensure that everyone would understand his/her role during the conduct of the joint operations.
“Furthermore, the workshop will provide participants with the requisite knowledge to effectively discharge their constitutional roles in aid to civil authority thereby enhancing inter-agency cooperation and synergy.
“It is imperative to state that the peculiar contemporary security environment in the South East requires the combined efforts of all security agencies, as no organisation can successfully work in isolation.
“The overall goal of all security agencies present here is to ensure the safety of all law-abiding citizens and protection of lives and properties in the region,’’ he said.