Nigeria’s defence minister claims military killed 9,300 suspected terrorists in one year

The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, said on Thursday the Nigerian military has killed 9,300 terrorists in the last one year.

Badaru disclosed this at the Ministerial Sectoral Briefings organised by the Ministry of Information to mark the first anniversary of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration in Abuja.

He said about 7,000 other criminals were arrested, and 4,882 assorted weapons and 83,900 ammunition recovered during the period.

READ ALSO: Nigerian military declares Nigerien, Halilu Buzu, wanted for terrorism

The minister revealed that 4,641 persons held hostage by the terrorists were rescued at the time.

Badaru stressed that about 20 commanders of different insurgences and terrorist groups were among those neutralized by the troops.

He said: “In addition to the military, we have close collaboration with the office of the National Security Advisor, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and all other military, paramilitary and security enhancing agencies.

”This has translated to tremendous progress during the one year in review. You will all agree with me that those from Borno enjoyed their last Sallah freely.”

The minister said the troops arrested 1,437 people, killed 363, and freed 245 captives in the Niger Delta.

”We destroyed 3,051 dug pits of illegal production, destroyed 1,276 boats, 3,924 storage facilities, arrested and destroyed 408 vehicles and 2,760 cooking oil drums.

“Most of the illegal factories are now down. In addition, major vessels have been arrested, and this has helped greatly.

”This is because the president enjoined us to work together in synergy to deliver and end insecurity in the country.

”We have also been working with regional security agencies and countries around us to improve this situation.

”We are collaborating with neighbouring countries to fight insurgency, and we have arrested in conjunction with these countries’ militaries, many weapons and drug traffickers.

”This shows that the collaboration we have with our neighboring countries is efficient and helps us to reduce the inflow of small arms and light weapons,’’ he said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now