Military to launch 'Operation Ex-Crocodile Smile' In Niger Delta

WARRI—NIGER Delta Avengers, NDA, have said that President Muhammadu Buhari was free to step up oil exploration in the North East, but should forget about the export of any drop of crude oil from the Niger Delta.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, has said that the military under his command will from this weekend launch Operation Ex-Crocodile Smile to practise Special Forces Troops in Amphibious and IS operations in riverine areas in South-South states of the country.

This, he said, will check criminal activities such as kidnapping, militancy, piracy and other forms of
criminal activities. Avengers’ spokesperson, self-styled Brig-Gen. Mudoch, in a statement, entitled, “Your drones won’t stop us,” said that the Federal Government was preparing for a military offensive in the region but using dialogue as a subterfuge.

“Also note that you will not be able to export one litre of crude oil in the Niger Delta. Just intensify the oil exploration in the North-East. As for exportation from the Niger Delta, forget about it because the Nigerian government won’t export a drop from our land.

“The NDA intelligence agency gathered that the said peace talk or dialogue by the Federal Government is a delay tactic employed by the government to enable the drones they ordered arrive latest end of August from the United States.

“This whole thing makes us to wonder what kind of country this is. We can all see that the government is not serious about any dialogue but is only making it seem as if the Niger Delta Avengers are the ones not ready for dialogue. “Government can purchase all the drones from Europe and Untied State. It will not stop the NDA from bringing the country’s economy to zero.”

Speaking, yesterday, at a three-day Combat Support Arms Training Week, COSAT, which took place at Maimalari Cantonment, 7 Division, Nigerian Army, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Buratai  noted that the current operations being undertaken by troops in the country, especially in the North-East, have thrown up several challenges, stressing that efforts were being made to confront these challenges. He added that the Nigerian Army will not rest until the country was rid of criminals and terrorism acts.

Source: Vanguard