Chibok Girls: We won’t ever disclose our operational strategy, says DHQ
*…Insists Boko Haram can never regroup
The Director, Defense Information of Defense Headquarters, Abuja, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, has categorically stated that the military or any security outfit in the country would never make public its operational strategies to rescue the Chibok girls and other abducted persons still in the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents.
Addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt, Thursday, during a tour of the Niger Delta, Brigadier-General Abubakar who was reacting to fears raised about the continued stay in captivity of the girls, stated that bringing the military strategy to the public domain would endanger the lives and safety of the abducted girls.
Brigadier Abubakar reassured the public that the military was doing everything possible to rescue the Chibok girls and all those captured by the Boko Haram sect, but would not disclose information on their strategy.
He restated that the Boko Haram terrorists had been destabilized and that nothing would bring them back again to regroup as in Sambisa Forest or anywhere else in the country, but quickly warned that there could still be pockets of attacks by the insurgents.
Fielding questions on the use of young female bombers to attack the public, the Brigadier-General said that the girls used by Boko Haram were never in their right senses, saying that they were drugged, got drunk and tied with improvised explosive devices and led to their target areas for the deadly missions.
Reacting to the accusations that the military were partisan in politics, Brigadier Abubakar said that the military had set up a mechanism to check military personnel engagement in partisan politics and to punish all those found guilty of tarnishing the image of the military.
He stated: “We don’t want to be seen as taking sides in elections. We want to be seen as neutral. What we do is to provide an enabling environment for everybody to thrive. We will not condone any misconduct from any military personnel.
“The disciplinary exercise is ongoing. If anybody has any credible evidence against any military officer, let the person come forward with it. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that the Nigerian military can never be partisan. Any officer found to be partisan will be ejected from the force,” he stated.
The Defense Information Director said that his office was touring the country to forge a cordial working relationship between the media and the military as well as bridging the gap between the Nigerian public and the military. He said that the team began with Abuja and had already visited the North East, Kaduna, South West, and then Niger Delta.
He urged the media to always project the peace and unity of Nigeria and to ensure that they put forward the interest of the nation in their reports, adding: “If any information has security implications, you are duty bound to protect such information.”
