The Defence Headquarters has confirmed that Nigeria was not threatened by the so-called ISIS allegedly infiltrating into the country to train Boko Haram members.
A statement by the acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General John Agim said there was no evidence to back the report.
“The Defence Headquarters wishes to respond to a report making the round that ISIS has been sending her members to Nigeria to train Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) members. It is pertinent to state categorically that there is no concrete evidence on the ground to back their claim.
“However, it could be recalled that the Amnesty International (AI) Barnawi faction of BHT in 2016 pledged alliance to the ISIS as a result of our troops’ fire power which dislodged them from Sambisa forest and surrounding areas in the North East. The Armed Forces of Nigeria is aware that there is collaboration between terrorist groups, thus, it is important to note that the activity of one group in a country influences other groups in other countries and because of this knowledge, activities of other terrorist groups usually affect our own military strategy.
“The Nigeria Military will continue to condemn all tactics by terrorist groups of isolating the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) from any foreign collaboration. If terrorist groups understand the importance of collaboration for evil global attacks, then, it is the highest degree of irresponsibility for AI to use repeated falsehood with the intention of isolating AFN from her citizens’ support and international collaboration to win the fight against BHT and other forms of terrorism in Nigeria. Meanwhile, proactive measures are currently being taken to nip any such development if it exists in the bud,” the statement read in full.
The Defence Headquarters assured Nigerians that it was “up to the task of defending the country and its citizens from every attempt to infiltrate it by criminals. Hence, the ill motivated stories, clips and their claims should be disregarded.”
