Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has sought the collaboration and cooperation of traditional rulers in order to fight crime and criminal activities in the state.
The governor made this known during the inauguration of the ninth Abia State Traditional Rulers Council in Umuahia, where HRH Eze Linus Nto Mba was inaugurated as the chairman of the council.
Inaugurating the principal officers of council at the auditorium of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs on Tuesday, Governor Otti charged the new leadership of the traditional rulers in the state to mobilise their colleagues to assist the present administration in fighting violent crime in Abia.
The statement read, “While it’s not in the character of the NAF to respond to such claims, particularly one peddled by terrorists, concerns expressed by well-meaning Nigerians on the need to address the propaganda becomes imperative.
“Like all military organisations involved in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, incidence of fatalities, mishaps and crashes are sometimes inevitable.
“For the NAF, the last 8 years have seen an increased level of air operations in efforts at checkmating the nefarious activities of terrorists and criminal elements in the country.
“With heightened levels of air operations, occasioned by an enhanced fleet, the likelihood of air mishaps and accidents at times become unavoidable and inevitable due to various reasons.
“Indeed, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, said this much when he hosted Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State, yesterday (Tuesday), 15 August 2023, at his office where he noted that the rates of aircraft accidents/incidence are directly proportional to the heightened level of air operations.
“While the NAF regrets such unfortunate incidents, especially as they involve the loss of lives of our colleagues, the service will never shy away from unravelling the probable cause of the crash with a view to drawing lessons.”
