Military checkpoints, gridclock return to Plateau roads

Military checkpoints in Plateau State, which disappeared a few weeks ago, have returned, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Soldiers at a checkpoint on Oba Adesida Road, Akure
| credits: Stanley Ogidi

NAN reports that the checkpoints have resurfaced in Jos, other towns, as well as major and rural roads in the state.

It was also observed that joint security teams, comprising soldiers and policemen, conducted thorough searches on vehicles, forcing a return of traffic gridlock that eased off last week.

President Muhammadu Buhari had three weeks ago directed that military checkpoints and road-blocks be removed from the highways.

A top source in the Special Task Force told NAN in Jos that the road blocks returned to Plateau State following an appeal by Governor Simon Lalong.

The source said, “The governor, after visiting the scene of last Sunday’s night bomb attacks in some parts of Jos north, had blamed the return of the blasts on the lack of mechanism to check the movements of evil people.

“The absence of the military checkpoints has ensured a free flow of all manners of evil and I call on the President to order that they be restored in Plateau.”

NAN reports that before the governor’s appeal, a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Timothy Golu, had also called on the President to restore the checkpoints in Plateau “especially in the rural areas’’.

Golu had premised his stance on the relevance of the military to securing fleeing villagers, especially from night attacks.

He also argued that the military checkpoints were crucial in curtailing the movement of small arms and light weapons, emphasising the need to secure the “hapless rural dwellers’’.

The lawmaker had said, “Some criminals are deterred when they know that they could be pursued by armed personnel at the checkpoints, but removing such checkpoints will ease their schemes and operations.”

STF spokesman, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, said the military checkpoints “never totally disappeared’’ at any time.

Iweha added, “The checkpoints did not disappear; we merely reviewed them and collapsed some of them for effective service delivery.

“But, following what happened, I mean the bomb blasts and their aftermath, we resolved to restore the checkpoints to ease and quicken our response to situations.

“You recall that miscreants took advantage of the blasts to engage in arson and looting. The Commander was of the opinion that such would have been averted if checkpoints were nearby.

“So, he quickly ordered that the checkpoints be restored to respond much better to emergencies in and around the vicinity.”

Military checkpoints, gridclock return to Plateau roads

Buhari orders remover of military checkpoints nationwide

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday ordered the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector- General of police to dismantle all military checkpoints nationwide.

The order was handed down to the Defence Chiefs when the President had a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Defence at the State House.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Aliyu Ismail, said this when he briefed State House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting with the president.

Soldiers at a checkpoint on Oba Adesida Road, Akure
| credits: Stanley Ogidi

“The President has instructed the Chief of Defence Staff to get the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police to remove all the military men along the roads across the country,’’ he said.

Mr. Ismail said the officials came to brief the president on arrangements made so far in the implementation of decisions reached during the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

“Nigerian armed forces are very ready, we have briefed him but one most interesting thing about it is that we are going out much happier because he has shown us he is still a soldier.

“He has updated and enriched our strategic plan and we are happy,” he added.

He said that the meeting also discussed the relocation of the military command centre in Nigeria to Borno, adding that the centre would soon be fully operational.

“We have briefed him on how far we have reached on that; on that one again he has given us some additional assignments but very soon the centre will be on.

“I want to assure Nigerians that with what we have come out from this meeting we are very enthusiastic that the issue of Boko Haram will soon be over.

“I, as a permanent secretary, also feel like going to fight the war because he has given us hope and we have seen peace and security in the very near future,’’ he said.

The permanent secretary also said that the Joint Multi National Task Force on Boko Haram had re-strategised to combat terrorism in the sub-region.

“Now we have come as a united front.

“We have Chad, we have Cameroon; we have Benin; we have Niger.

“We have all re-strategised and come out with one strategy that we are going to use to address Boko Haram, unlike before,’’ he said.

The permanent secretary, however, said the issue of the abducted Chibok Girls was not part of the discussion.

The Permanent Secretary said the president has made an alternative arrangement for the police to take charge of internal security.

“That is why the Police are also there, that is why the police are coming in to take over the internal security,” he said.

But the   Presidency later issued a statement in which it explained that the order for the removal of the checkpoints   affected only secure parts of the country.

The statement by   the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying that the soldiers must concentrate more on ending   insurgency in the country.

According to the statement, the   checkpoints shall   be retained in areas outside the North-Eastern states where the military considered them absolutely essential for the maintenance of national security.

It read , “Reaffirming his administration’s total commitment to ending the Boko Haram insurgency in the shortest possible time, the President welcomed the progress report he was given on the implementation of his order that the Military Command Control Centre be relocated to Maiduguri.

“President Buhari who, in keeping with the declared priorities of his government, made the meeting with defence and security chiefs the top item on his schedule on his first day at work in the Presidential Villa, also expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far in the implementation of the decision of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to fast-track the deployment of the Multinational Joint Task Force based in Ndjamena.

“The defence and security chiefs who met with the President and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo for over three-and-half hours, also briefed them on the refurbishment of existing military platforms and the acquisition of new weapons for the Armed Forces.”

Buhari orders remover of military checkpoints nationwide