The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, on Thursday, urged communities in Zamfara to support the military in combating terrorist groups in the North-West region.

Mr Oluyede made the appeal after a closed-door meeting with military officers at the headquarters of the Joint Task Force, Operation Hadarin Daji, of the Nigerian Army in Gusau, Zamfara.

The COAS, who was on his first operational visit to Zamfara, was received by the theatre commander of Operation Hadarin Daji, Maj.-Gen. Oluyinka Soyele, and the brigade commander of 1 Brigade, Nigerian Army Gusau, Brig.-Gen. Timothy Opurum.

Mr Oluyede assured that the Nigerian Army would sustain its onslaught against criminals until they were eliminated.

He, however, urged communities to remain vigilant and support security agencies.

According to him, security is a collective responsibility and everyone’s business; therefore, all stakeholders must join hands to combat crime.

“We expect everybody in Zamfara and North-West to support the military to achieve the end of criminal activities from this region and Nigeria in general.

“The essence of this operational visit is to inspect the Nigerian Army’s operational activities ongoing here in Zamfara.

“As we are all aware, in the last three months, a great success has been achieved by military operations here in Zamfara,” he said.

The army chief noted that the troops had made significant progress, achieving substantial success in Zamfara and the North-West region.

“Many top leaders of the criminals have been killed, I am using this medium to charge our troops to do more.

“Very soon, we will eliminate all the remaining bandits and criminals from the state,” he added.

Addressing the troops at the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Gusau, the army chief commended them for their courage and resilience.

Mr Oluyede urged them to sustain the fight against criminals until all the bandits were eliminated.

(NAN)