The General Officer Commanding 6 Division (GOC) Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham has commended the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai for his leadership style of ensuring a professional and a responsible Nigerian Army, which according to him, remains Buratai’s mantra.
Giving the commendation during an exclusive interview with a private television station in Port Harcourt, the GOC said the Nigerian Army Headquarters has been forthcoming in terms of providing necessary support to the Division.
General Sarham who once served under Buratai as Deputy Commandant when he was in 2 Brigade now 6 Div, said the COAS has been a trainer and he remained a trainer.
“I was privileged to be a Deputy Commandant under the present Chief of Army Staff before he became COAS in NASI as well as the MNJTF, he has maintained that there is no alternative to training and I was a beneficiary of that. So he has laid a solid foundation that makes everything easy which we are building on in the 6-Div.”
The GOC pointed out that, with the support of the COAS, the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army was able to drastically reduce the issue of killings, kidnapping for ransom and other criminal activities in their areas of responsibility.
He said, in states like Delta and Akwa Ibom there were prevalence of serious security challenges, while even in Rivers there were cases of sea piracy but all these had also been reduced following joint operations with other security agencies.
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“With the support of the COAS, we were able to meet with the Police, NSCDC and planned detailed operations on how to curb this menaces, and it is yielding a very positive result,” General Sarham said.
Sarham disclosed that the Nigerian Army 6 Division has also liaised with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in curbing the menace of oil theft, saying that they are on the trail of economic saboteurs.
He said, the Army have told the oil thieves that they have zero tolerance for such activities.
“People have seen that we don’t have stomach for illegality, so we have not relented in our effort in dealing with those criminals. Our operations have improved the oil production and other oil leaking issues,” the GOC disclosed.
The GOC however, stated that in the area of security no one can achieve much without getting the required intelligence, so every hand must be on deck.
“One of the aspect of counter insurgency warfare that we are facing is that, it is intelligence driven and it lies mostly with the Civil Populace and we are getting closer to them”.
“Nigerian Army under the able leadership of the COAS Lt. Gen. TY Buratai is an agent of development which we are trying to make people understand ;we are doing a lot through our various civil-military relations programmes such as medical outreaches, construction of small roads, organizing football matches, cleaning the environment as well as social interaction among others,” he further said.
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