The Nigerian Army has announced the commencement of Exercise Egwu Eke III, otherwise known as Python Dance, in all parts of the country to fight security challenges during the 2019 general elections.
Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, represented by the Chief of Training and Operations, Lamidi Adeosun, made the announcement on Friday at a flag-off ceremony in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Mr Buratai said the exercise would last from January 1, 2019 to February 28, which effectively covers the period of the 2019 elections.
“The exercise was necessitated by the challenges coupled with other security threats across the country such as terrorism, militancy, kidnapping and banditry.
“These threats portend that dissident groups and criminal elements could cash in on the situation to perpetrate large-scale violence before, during and after the 2019 general elections,”
The army had in 2016 and 2017 conducted Exercise Egwu Eke I and II to address peculiar security challenges in the South-East geo-political zone.
Responding to a question on why Egwu Eke III is being conducted nationwide and not restricted to the South-East in line with its code name, Buratai’s representative said there is python everywhere.
“Even in the desert of Borno, don’t forget, the Lake Chad basin is there, python can also dance within the desert.
“In fact, we have desert python, so python will dance all over the country this time around,’’ Mr Adeosun said.
The army chief explained that the success of the Exercise Egwu Eke I and II in checkmating security threats in the South-East had now informed its implementation across the country.
Buratai called on Nigerians to provide the army and other security agencies with useful and timely information to enable them to deliver on the mandate of the planned exercise.
