Army ‘recovers 20,000 cows in North-West’

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Yusuf Buratai, yesterday said the army’s effort against criminals in the North-west had yielded results with the recovery of about 20,000 stolen cows.

Represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, at the emir of Zazzau’s palace in Zaria, Buratai said while the military was trying to eliminate Boko Haram from the North-east before the December presidential deadline, attention was also being paid to eliminating cattle rustling.

“Another issue is cattle rustling. Cattle business is a serious business in northern Nigeria, as such, it has attracted a lot of criminals who are stealing hundreds and thousands of cows that are sold into the market illegally. As I speak, the Nigerian Army is in operation in the entire Northwest code-named Sharan Daji to ensure that all bandits and cattle rustlers are flushed out.

“I want to tell you that as at last week, we arrested and killed many rustlers and we have recovered close to 20,000 cattle. We will continue to do that. The operation is co-funded by some states in the North-west, it will be rounded off very soon”.

Responding, the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, thanked the federal government for putting many military formations in the Zazzau emirate. He also thanked the army for assisting the emirate in handling security challenges, saying the emirate was enjoying peace. Lt General Buratai also said as a result of the military successes against Boko Haram in the North-east, its members were fleeing to the North-west where he warned they would also be routed out.

“I want to report to you that we are employing all resources at our disposal to make sure we drive Boko Haram out of this land. This is in line with the president’s directive to crush them on or before December. Because of the fact that the insurgents are finding it very hot in the North-east, they are trying to move into the North-west. In the past two or three hours, we picked about three of them here in the North-west. We will continue to track them, we will continue with our surveillance and pick them”, he said. Alhaji Shehu Idris assured of his cooperation.