Although the Chief of Defence Staff, Air
Marshal Alex Badeh, had assured Nigerians that security agencies would
soon close in on the abductors and rescue the girls, Saturday PUNCH
authoritatively learnt that the agencies had yet to make any
breakthrough in their investigations into the whereabouts of the girls.
The girls were abducted on April 14, 2014.
Some parents had on Tuesday said that the children had been taken to Cameroon and Chad by their abductors, who married them off.
But a security source said that the military believed that the girls and their abductors are still within the country.
He stated, “There is confusion on the
issue. While the parents are saying that the girls have been ferried out
of the country, security agencies believe that they are in the
country.”
“But the truth is that we do not know for
sure where the girls are. We don’t know the exact place that the
insurgents have carried the girls to, though we believe the girls and
their abductors are still within Nigeria.’’
Investigations further showed that the
military was in a dilemma as to how the rescue operation could be
conducted without any of the girls being killed or injured.
“Even if we know where they are, we do not want to strike in such a way that the girls will be injured,” the source added.
The source said that President Goodluck Jonathan had ordered that all the girls should be brought back to their parents alive.
It was gathered that the situation was
worsened by the lack of cooperation among stakeholders, including
parents, security agencies as well as states and federal governments.
He said, “We cannot just be discussing
all our operations in the media. As the Chief of Defence Staff has said,
the military does not want to kill the girls.’’
It was gathered that the insurgents were determined to use the girls as human shields if the military attacked them.
The Chief of Defence Staff had on
Wednesday said, “Where we are told that they are, we can’t go there with
our armoury, otherwise, we will go and kill them. If you go and kill
them, then you will not have achieved anything. But I know we will get
those girls. I know we will get them.”
But a security consultant, Ben Okezie, expressed doubts about the capability of the military to rescue the girls.
He said that the force was willing to combat terrorism, but lacked the logistics to do so.
He stated that the huge security budget
to the security agencies should be probed to know how it was spent,
noting that Nigerians needed to ask questions.
Okezie said, “I am sure the military
wants to work but it does not have the logistics. Unfortunately, the
people are not speaking out. The police had the same problem and were
not speaking out until Mohammed Abubakar became the Inspector General of
Police. I found out that the military doesn’t have the logistics and
we need to start asking questions.
“All the money appropriated during the
tenure of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, what
happened to it? Nobody should say Army budget cannot be probed, it’s not
true, it’s our money. Ihejirika’s tenure should be probed.”
The security expert expressed fears that
the abducted girls might be brainwashed and used as suicide bombers by
the sect, going by media reports that none of the girls that escaped was
sexually molested by their abductors.
Okezie said, “Boko Haram can’t just
abduct such a large number of girls if they don’t have an ulterior plan.
None of the girls that escaped had said they were sexually molested and
I don’t think they are marrying them as a section of the media
reported.”
He advised the government to empower the
security agencies with technological gadgets and facilities that could
make their jobs easier.
“If the government is serious about
investigating the abduction, government should have got a surveillance
drone by now. The one I saw at the force headquarters went to Masaka and
took pictures of Masaka for ten minutes and we saw the whole place,
very clear pictures. According to him, there should be more intelligence
reports that would show the location of the sect and their captives.
He said the military should use more
propaganda to secure the support of the communities around the area,
“because for now, I don’t think they are getting that support; we need
to support the Army with everything they need.”
Another security expert, Chief Anabs
Sara-Igbe, observed that government was not spending money in the
right direction, adding that the security budget should not be spent on
the military, but on a Counter-Terrorism Unit that would lead the
campaign against terrorism in the country.
He advised the security agencies to
downplay “their noises and increase their surveillance,” pointing out
that intelligence is key to tackling terrorism in the country.
The former security adviser to the Rivers
State government restated his conviction that the security situation
could only be tamed with the establishment of a vibrant
Counter-Terrorism Unit that would report to the President alone.
According to him, it took the United
States many years to capture Osama bin Laden, the founder of the global
terror group, Al-Qaeda, adding that the success was achieved through
intelligence and surveillance.
Sara-Igbe said,” Fighting terrorism is
not about military hardware and what are needed are strictly
intelligence facilities and high-tech security gadgets. Government needs
to take advice. Terrorism is not a conventional warfare, it’s not armed
robbery, it is carried out by a cartel and it can only be fought with
intelligence and rakers who are known as spies.
“This government does not know the depth
of terrorism, if it does, it will know it’s not a thing you use
helicopters or artillery to fight. Terrorists are desperate people who
can use anything to achieve their goal. The government must set up a
Counter-Terrorism Unit to spearhead the campaign, headed by a director
who reports only to the President.”
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