The Nigerian Navy has admonished militants in the Niger Delta to embrace the olive branch extended to them by the Federal Government or face its wrath.
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, in an interview, warned that the Navy has the capacity to wipe out militancy from the region.
He said the force is, at the moment, being restrained from doing so because of ongoing negotiations with the militants by the government.
According to the Ibas, should the dialogue between the various tiers of government and the militants fail, the military would come down heavily on the militants.
The Vice Admiral called on the militants to have a rethink of their acts which he said is threatening the economy of the country.
He said no responsible government anywhere in the world would fold its arm and watch a group of militants take laws into their hands by disrupting the peace and economy of its nation.
The CNS commended President Buhari for strengthening the might of Navy and the military generally. He explained that the administration, more than administrations before it in the last few decades, has made enormous investments in the procurement of desired facilities for the force.
He insisted that the Navy has done well especially in the area of helping to fight insurgencies and pirates.
“In terms of internal security we have performed well…
“The Navy has done a lot to support the national objective. The economic mainstream of the nation is domiciled in the maritime domain. If the Navy doesn’t have the capacity to ensure that the activities out there are uninterrupted, then there will be serious crisis in the nation.
“We have also tried to collaborate with other national agencies to keep the maritime space secure,” he said.
