President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the request of Governor Hope Uzodimma with the establishment of a Naval Base at Oguta in Imo State.
Uzodimma had on July 8 2021 during a visit by Rear Admiral Odogwu Ezekobe, Navy’s Chief of Policy and Plans appealed to Buhari for a Naval Base in the area to checkmate criminal activities.
The approval for the establishment of the Base was revealed on Sunday in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
In the statement, made out of his Sallah message to Muslims and Nigerians in general, commemorating the Eid-el-Fitr, Buhari also took the space to relay an assessment on the security situation in the country and his administration’s efforts at peace and security.
Giving his administration a pass mark in its way of tackling the various threats to the nation’s peace and security, the President said: “After a period of fasting and reflection, this year, we have cause to welcome the occasion in hope”.
The statement quoted the president as saying “the battle waged against terrorists who falsely masquerade under the name of Islam is approaching its conclusion.”
“The fight has been long and hard. Final victory is within sight. Boko Haram and its offshoots’ final embers are now fading.
“Last month, the leader of ISWAP was killed in an airstrike. Since the New Year, thousands of fighters have surrendered to enter rehabilitation programmes. The territories they used to occupy are now seeing the return of those who were forced to flee their barbarity. Normality is finally beginning to return to the Northeast. It is a long process. Yet it is one we are, together, now embarking upon.
“With the designation of bandit groups as terrorists, the challenges of banditry and kidnapping are being tackled differently in the North-western and North Central states where the latest military acquisitions and the Armed Forces are being fanned out across the region to thwart acts of terror.
“The administration is equally getting impressive reports of the special operations to curb crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in the South-South, with millions of illegally refined products being impounded and illegal refineries destroyed.
“While we are making progress cleaning the environment, some evil people are busy causing more pollution and destruction.
“In response to the disturbing rise in criminal attacks targeting law enforcement and public facilities in the South East, concerted military operations to rid the region of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) elements have, in recent weeks, led to the overrunning of IPOB/ESN bases, the seizure of weapons and the arrest of a large number of suspects,” he said.
