Army’s “Park Strike IV” Secures Kainji Game Reserve

The Nigerian Army’s ongoing counter-insurgency campaign, codenamed “Park Strike IV,” has begun to yield measurable gains in Kainji Lake National Park and adjacent border communities, with troops penetrating more than 90 kilometres into the forest and apprehending a dozen terror suspects. Ordered by Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede to eliminate criminal hideouts within one month, the operation targets bandits and a breakaway Boko Haram faction locally dubbed “Mahmuda” in Kwara and Niger states.

Ilorin/Kaiama-Troops from 2 Division, under the command of Major General Obinna Onubogu, launched the forest assault in late April and have since dislodged entrenched bandit camps that terrorized Baruten and Kaiama in Kwara State and Borgu in Niger State. Despite the Kwara State Police Command’s earlier statement that “Mahmuda” did not exist, Army intelligence links the group to the killing of over 20 villagers in farming communities straddling the two states, prompting the full-scale military response.

Onubogu told reporters that the raids recovered weapons caches and resulted in the arrest of twelve suspects, two of whom have been positively identified as Mahmuda members while the remainder face charges as accomplices. “Our troops are not relenting,” he said, “and will sustain the tempo in close collaboration with local vigilantes and other security agencies to clear every enclave of criminal elements”.

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As part of morale-building measures, Onubogu paid courtesy visits to the Emir of Kaiama, Muazu Sheu Omar, and the head of the Kemanji community, Aliyu Siki-Muhammed, where he assured residents of uninterrupted military support and the restoration of public confidence. With COAS Oluyede’s one-month marching order ticking down, the Army has intensified intelligence-driven clearances and border patrols in a bid to eradicate the last vestiges of insurgency and secure this vital ecological and agricultural corridor by month’s end.

Early indications suggest Park Strike IV is reversing weeks of bandit dominance in the region, raising hopes that lasting security can be reestablished in one of Nigeria’s most strategic frontier zones.