We’re pleased with Operation Crocodile Smile, says group

The Progressive Yoruba Youth Congress, a socio-political group, says it is delighted to have troops of Operation Crocodile Smile to the south-western part of the country.

The army flagged off the exercise earlier in the week.

Speaking at a rally which held at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Lagos, on Thursday, Desmond Abiona, national president of the association, said people of the region appreciate the efforts of the military.

Operation Python Dance, a military exercise in the south-east, was riddled with controversy – the height being the clash of soldiers with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

But Abiona promised that people of the south-west would cooperate with the military.

“We note that efforts to fight these crimes in these other places can potentially make the criminals to flee from these places where they are now under pressure to the south-west where they may think they have a chance,” he said.

“It would be most unfair to the south-west if such criminals should relocate here, which we are, sadly, already experiencing by way of crimes we are hitherto not used to. This to us is something calls for urgent intervention from the relevant law enforcement agencies and the federal government.

“We are therefore pleased to welcome soldiers of the Nigerian Army on Operation Crocodile Smile to the south-west of Nigeria. We wish to categorically state from the onset that the soldiers and officers present in our geopolitical zone would go away with experiences that differ from whatever they themselves or their brothers in arms had experienced in other geo-political zones where they had been deployed in the past. It is on this note that we boldly endorse a prosperous Nigeria without crime where there is respect for law and order by all citizens.

“Besides, the people of the South-West Nigeria have such high confidence in the military.

“We believe the Nigerian Army is conversant with the spate of robberies and kidnappings that have been imported into our dear southwest from neighbouring regions. The criminals behind these crimes often relocate the equivalent of entire armouries to the scene of their operations, which makes it clear that they require something higher than civil policing to contain their crimes. We hope that any incident of such that arises during operation crocodile smile would be a chance to teach an indelible lesson on why law-abiding citizens should not be harassed by criminals.”