Troops have arrested 60 suspected terrorists and freed 50 kidnapped Nigerians in a 24-hour sweep across the North-East, North-West, North-Central and South-South, the army said on Sunday in Abuja.
Precision strikes by Operation Hadin Kai in Borno eliminated several ISWAP/JAS commanders and destroyed their vehicles and supply dumps, while ground troops nabbed alleged informants and fuel suppliers in Borno and Yobe, seizing cash, phones and jerry-cans. The 232 Battalion in Adamawa stormed criminal camps, picked up 20 suspects and returned stolen goods to owners.
In Kebbi, Sokoto, Kogi and Plateau, soldiers dismantled forest hide-outs, killed one militant who tried to bolt during questioning and reunited abducted civilians with their families. Cattle rustled by gunmen was also recovered. Similar raids in Benue and Taraba ended with victims pulled out alive after firefights that left casualties on both sides.
Delta troops under Operation Delta Safe thwarted a high-profile abduction, handed rescued captives back to relatives and seized ransom cash and the kidnappers' vehicles. Vandals were caught inside a Sapele oil facility as the military vowed to keep up the pressure on terrorists and oil thieves nationwide.
The army's claim of "neutralising scores" of insurgents in Borno without offering even a single name or body count is the latest example of Nigeria's war-on-paper: victories announced from Abuja that no resident of Maiduguri can corroborate.
Between 2021 and 2023 the military has issued over 200 press releases boasting of mass terrorist deaths, yet the Global Terrorism Index still ranks the North-East as Africa's most terror-afflicted zone. The pattern is clear—press releases spike whenever budget defence season approaches or when news of fresh mass abductions breaks. Sunday's bulletin, released hours after reports of farmers killed in Borno, fits the script perfectly.
For families in Bama, Dikwa and Marte, the real metric is not the 60 arrests trumpeted nationwide but the fact that travelling the 130 km Maiduguri-Bama road still requires a military escort and a prayer. Until insurgent commanders are paraded or bodies displayed, the only Nigerians who feel any "gain" are the contractors whose fuel, rations and danger allowances keep flowing under the cover of "sustained operations."
This cycle of press-release victories without territorial control is why banditry is now franchised across the North-West and why oil thieves in Delta can interrupt production at will despite weekly "foiled" sabotage attempts.
