Nigerian Army set to begin special operations

The Nigerian Army has said it will begin operations Python Dance and Crocodile Smile in the South-East and South-West on November 1.

The army added that Exercise Ayem Akpatuma would commence on the same day in the North-Central.


The Chief of Army State, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, stated these at a press conference in Abuja.

Buratai, who was represented by Chief of Training and Operations, Maj. Gen. Enobong Udoh, said, “The exercises to be conducted are Ayem Akpatuma II in the North-Central and parts of North-West states of Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Taraba, Kaduna and Niger in 1 and 3 Divisions.

“Exercise Egwu Eke IV will be carried out in the South-East comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and lmo states in 82 Division Areas of Responsibility. Exercise Crocodile Smile IV will be held across states in the South-South and South-West comprising Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers and Ogun in 2, 6, 81 and 82 divisions areas of responsibility.

“They will be conducted from November 1 to December 23. This has become necessary owing to threats that are burgeoning in the aforementioned zones and also aimed at curtailing the movement of bandits, armed robbers, ethnic militia and cattle rustlers.”

Meanwhile, the Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Bala Buni, on Tuesday met with Buratai in Abuja to seek solutions to the insecurity occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgents.

This is just as troops of the Nigerian Army on Operation Lafiya Dole arrested nine Boko Haram suspects in a hamlet in the Mainok area of Borno State.

The army in a statement on Tuesday said preliminary investigations revealed that the Boko Haram suspects were spies.

The Yobe governor, in a brief remark, said the new Boko Haram attacks on communities in Yobe State were perpetrated by insurgents who fled from Borno, and were seeking a safe haven.