‘Operation Python Dance’ was successful in South- east, says Army

From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha

THE Nigerian Army yesterday said that
despite the initial disinformation,
agitation and misplaced apprehension
about the Exercise Python Dance
launched by the military during the
festive period, the record of
achievements was huge and highly
acknowledged by well meaning locals
and visitors across the Southeastern
region.
Deputy Director, Army Public Relations,
82 Division, Enugu, Col. Sagir Musa in a
statement said that due to intensity of
patrols, road blocks, raids and other
activities in the Military Line of
Operation, miscreants and criminals were
denied freedom of action.
Musa said that as a result of the military
exercise, most of the criminal elements
fizzled out of the region into neighboring
Delta and Rivers states.
He commended the media for the
wonderful role they played while the
exercise lasted, noting that the accounts
of peace, law, order and secured
environments in the entire Southeastern
region occasioned by the exercise was
widely circulated by the media.
He noted: “The political leadership, some
elite and the locals in Abia, Anambra,
Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States
appreciated and differently voiced their
commendations about the Nigerian Army.
“Also, most of the security challenges
such as intra and inter communal crisis,
farmers-herdsmen clashes, kidnapping,
armed robbery and cultism as well as
“trading in human misery” in the region
were grossly reduced to the barest
minimum. These menaces are and have
been the focus and targets of this
exercise and have so far been effectively
achieved.
“Similarly, violent secessionist agitators
and related divisive irredentist groups
were silently suppressed. Consequently,
the region was stabilised with an
increased level of free movements and a
boost in economic and social activities.”
Musa noted that even the annual gridlock
on the Niger Bridge at Onitsha during the
yuletide season was effectively remedied,
while the yearly sufferings,
inconveniencies and insecurity arising
from traffic jam on the Asaba-Onitsha
axis of the bridge were curtailed.
He said the seamless flow of traffic was
achieved by own troops working in
synergy with the Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) and the Nigerian
Police Force.
He said the exercise has further raised
the image and reputation of the Nigerian
Army in its struggles to end insurgency,
crimes and criminalities across the
nation, adding that a lot was learnt on
real time situations during the exercise.