Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), has tasked ‘Kashe Mugu 2′ activity, the’ Thunder
Strike ‘(OPTS) air component, to intensify air strikes in Kaduna and neighboring states against bandits and other criminal elements.
Abubakar said this would mean that the troubled areas of
the country’s North-West and North-Central Regions would return to normalcy.
This was revealed in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by the
Director of Public Relations and Details, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola.
In Kaduna, CAS noted this while evaluating the progress of the newly inaugurated ‘KASHE MUGU 2’
campaign, a subsidiary of the air interdiction campaign aimed at neutralizing the forests of known armed bandits.
Abubakar, who witnessed the conduct of one of the waves of attack missions, commended the pilots
for their efforts and the commendable results so far reported, as well as the support staff.
He urged them, however, to preserve the momentum of
operations to ensure that bandits had no hiding spot.
“You must continue to work assiduously in synergy with sister services and other security agencies to smoke the criminals out of their enclaves.
“And ensure that they are no longer able to stop law-abiding citizens from pursuing their legitimate aspirations,” he said.
Abubakar said that Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance ( ISR) missions will continue to be carried
out by the air component to identify all other camps which would be similarly withdrawn.
Abubakar noted that the ultimate goal was to ensure that Nigeria was safe and that
the sovereignty of Nigeria was not compromised by any person or entity, whether terrorists or otherwise.
However, he commended the efforts made by
the young pilots who carried out the missions.
CAS also noted that NAF now has a good number of qualified young pilots
across all its aircraft types due to ongoing aggressive capacity building activities in the service.
“With officers in their twenties and early thirties being captains on the C-130H aircraft fleet and on aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet, which was a marked departure from what obtained in the recent past.
“Where Air Commodores and AVMs were the only captains on such fleets. It’s all about capacity building. Once the capacity is there; the opportunity is given for young people to train and acquire the necessary skills.
“Then the sky is the limit and that is what we have seen these young pilots do over the past few years.”
In addition, Abubakar inspected the facilities at the 061 NAF
Aeromedical Hospital and the equipment at the Kaduna Regiment Training Centre.
Source: NNN
