Boko Haram
Amnesty
International on Friday said the Nigerian military ignored advanced
warnings on plan by the Boko Haram Islamic sect to carry out armed raid
on Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State.
The group spoke as one of the victims’ father told CNN that the insurgents were usually supplied by helicopters.
Speaking with CNN correspondent, Isha
Sesay, in Abuja on Friday, he said the matter was reported to the
soldiers but nothing came out of it.
AI called on the Federal Government to
provide adequate information to families of the abducted girls on its
current efforts to ensure their safe release.
It also suggested that “the families –
and the abducted girls, once they are freed – must be provided with
adequate medical and psychological support.”
A statement issued by AI’s Africa Director (Research and Advocacy), Netsanet Belay, obtained by Saturday PUNCH
in Abuja said after independently verifying information based on
multiple interviews with credible sources, “the Nigerian security forces
had more than four hours of advance warning about the attack but did
not do enough to stop it.”
He said, “Damning testimonies gathered by
Amnesty International reveal that Nigerian security forces failed to
act on advance warnings about Boko Haram’s armed raid on the state-run
boarding school in Chibok which led to the abduction of more than 240
schoolgirls on 14-15 April.
“The fact that Nigerian security forces
knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate
action needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and
international outcry at this horrific crime.
“It amounts to a gross dereliction of
Nigeria’s duty to protect civilians, who remain sitting ducks for such
attacks. The Nigerian leadership must now use all lawful means at their
disposal to secure the girls’ safe release and ensure nothing like this
can happen again.”
The organisation said it had confirmed
through various sources that Nigeria’s military headquarters in
Maiduguri “was aware of the impending attack soon after 7pm on April 14,
close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town.”
The statement said, “But an inability to
muster troops – due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging
with the often better-equipped armed groups – meant that reinforcements
were not deployed to Chibok that night. The small contingent of security
forces based in the town – 17 army personnel as well as local police
–attempted to repel the Boko Haram assault but were overpowered and
forced to retreat. One soldier reportedly died.
“More than three weeks later, the
majority of the girls remain in captivity in an unknown location. A
climate of confusion and suspicion has so far scuppered efforts to
secure their release.”
According to Belay, AI had called on Boko
Haram to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages into
safety and stop all attacks on civilians.
“The abduction and continued detention of
these school girls are war crimes, and those responsible must be
brought to justice. Attacks on schools also violate the right to
education and must be halted immediately,” he said.
The statement reads, “Between 7pm pn
April 14 and 2am on April 15, the military commands in Damboa, 36.5km
away from Chibok, and Maiduguri, 130km away from Chibok, were repeatedly
alerted to the threat by both security and local officials.
“According to sources interviewed by
Amnesty International, local civilian patrols (known as “vigilantes”,
set up by the military and local authorities) in Gagilam, a neighbouring
village, were among the first to raise the alarm on the evening of
April 14 after a large group of unidentified armed men entered their
village on motorbikes and said they were headed to Chibok.
This set off a rapid chain of phone calls
to alert officials, including the Borno State Governor, Kashim
Shettima, and senior military commanders based in Maiduguri.
“One local official who was contacted by
Gagilam residents told Amnesty International: “At around 10:00 PM on 14
April, I called [several] security officers to inform them about earlier
information I had received from the vigilantes in Gagilam village. They
had told us that strange people had arrived in their village that
evening on motorbikes and they said they were heading to Chibok. I made
several other calls, including to Maiduguri. I was promised by the
security people that reinforcement were on their way.”
According to AI, local official was
contacted by herdsmen who said that armed men had asked where the
Government Girls Secondary School was located in Chibok.
AI added that at around 11:45 PM, a
convoy reportedly numbering up to 200 armed Boko Haram fighters – on
motorbikes and in trucks – arrived in Chibok town and engaged in a
gunfight with a small number of police and soldiers based there.
Outnumbered and outgunned, the security forces eventually fled in the
small hours of 15 April. Some of the Boko Haram fighters proceeded to
the Government Girls Secondary School and abducted more than 240
schoolgirls.
Two senior officers in Nigeria’s armed
forces, it said, confirmed that the military was aware of the planned
attack even prior to the calls received from local officials. One
officer said the commander was unable to mobilize reinforcements adding
that he described to AI the difficulties faced by frontline soldiers in
north-eastern Nigeria:
“There’s a lot of frustration, exhaustion
and fatigue among officers and [troops] based in the hotspots…many
soldiers are afraid to go to the battle fronts”, he reportedly said.
AI said its requests for a reaction from the military headquarters in Abuja have gone unanswered.
Belay said, “Since the 14 April raid, a
climate of confusion and suspicion appears to have slowed down the
Nigerian authorities’ efforts to locate and free the abducted
schoolgirls. On 16 April, a senior Defence Ministry spokesperson said
that almost all of the abducted girls had been rescued and only eight
were still missing. The next day he had to retract that statement.
“The climate of suspicion and lack of
transparency about the rescue effort has been unhelpful – all
authorities must work together to ensure the girls are brought home
safely and more must be done to protect civilians in future.”
Belay said the information on the advance
warnings of the impending Boko Haram attack in Chibok came from
multiple sources, including local officials and two senior military
officers, interviewed by AI.
“The sources independently verified a
list of Nigerian officials who were alerted on 14-15 April, before and
during the raid on the Government Girls Secondary School. They have been
kept anonymous for their safety”, he stated.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram insurgents have
planted landmines round Sambisa Forest to prevent Special Forces from
rescuing over 200 schoolgirls abducted more than three weeks ago at the
Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
Saturday PUNCH investigation
during the week revealed that several hundreds of Special Forces
stationed at the edge of Sambisa Forest had been prevented from
accessing the forest because of landmines planted by the members of the
Boko Haram sect.
The Sambisa Forest is widely believed to be the operational headquarters of the Boko Haram insurgents in the country.
It was learnt that the Special Forces had
made repeated efforts to launch an attack in the area, but were halted
by repeated explosion of mines planted around the forest.
It was gathered that some of the troops unknowingly set off landmines, which inflicted various injuries on them.
Also, some of the Nigerian Army tanks used for the operation were damaged by the landmines.
The source said, “Several hundreds of
soldiers are deployed at the edge of the Sambisa Forest. You should know
that troops have made repeated attempts to enter the place but have run
into landmines. Some tanks have also been destroyed by these mines.
“These people have taken their time to mine everywhere; they have used two kinds of mines, the anti-personnel mines.
“So what the troops need to carry out
this operation are mine-resistant tanks. The Federal Government has made
provision for them and they have been imported but we have been waiting
for their arrival for long now.
“We are importing from China and India;
the West will put all kinds of hurdles on your part in such a way that
it would take you 10 years to get one of the tanks you are looking for,”
the source said.
Another source, however, said that the Defence ministry officials bought the tanks from Asian countries in order to save costs.
It was learnt that some of the military
equipment earlier ordered by the Federal Government could not be used
for the rescue operation because their accessories were not working.
Investigations further revealed that some
of the tanks earlier imported into the country from the Asian countries
were worthless and could add no value to the military arsenal in the
country.
The source, who confided in one of our
correspondents, said that some of the military hardware could not fire
and were just kept in the store.
It was gathered that the equipment was either incompatible, faulty or without complete accessory.
The source expressed concern that
officials of the Defence Ministry initiated moves to procure arms for
the Armed Forces just to make money even when the military had not been
contacted to give them a list of priority equipment.
The source said, “Some of the armaments
have been delivered but the problem is that even among the ones that
have come, some are faulty or arrived with incomplete accessory in
Nigeria.
“Some useless pieces of equipment in the
store were procured by the Ministry of Defence; they procure items that,
at times, are not asked for by the military. They do that a lot.
It was further gathered that as the
military was expecting the delivery of the newly ordered weapons, the
insurgents had intensified attacks thereby giving room for suspicion
that intelligence reports were being leaked to them.
Investigations revealed that the
insurgents planted both personnel and anti-tanks landmines to make it
difficult for the Nigerian troops to attack the forest.
It was gathered that the involvement of
the Nigeria Air Force in the rescue operation had been ruled out because
of the need to rescue the girls without casualties.
Britain, France and China have joined the
battle to rescue the girls, promising to deploy their satellite imaging
capabilities and other tracking technologies to assist the Nigerian
government.
It was further learnt that
the Federal Government was still expecting the delivery of
mine-resistant armoured tanks and other weapons required to fight the
insurgents and rescue the girls.
This, our correspondents learnt, was one
of the major reasons why the Nigerian troops have not been able to
storm the Sambisa Forest where the Boko Haram insurgents are believed to
be holding the girls.
Saturday PUNCH investigations also
revealed that the Special Forces were still awaiting the arrival of
some helicopter gunships, which would make the aerial offensive against
the insurgents more effective.
A security source said that the Ministry
of Defence had ordered for the landmine resistant armoured tanks for the
crucial operation from Asia.
The source, who confided in our
correspondents, said that more of the mine-resistant armoured tanks,
bombs, Armoured Personnel Carriers and other weapons as well as their
accessories were being expected from China and India.
It was gathered that the government had
to look in the direction of China and India because of the difficulty of
getting armament from the Western countries like the United States, the
United Kingdom and France.
The girls were abducted from their school in the night of April 14, 2014 by the members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
One of our correspondents made repeated
efforts to get the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen.Chris
Olukolade, to comment on the issue without success as calls to his
mobile telephone line did not connect.
However, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen Olajide Laleye, refused to comment when contacted on the telephone.
The Army spokesperson said that it was only the defence spokesperson that was authorised to speak on operational issues.
“What you are asking is an operational
issue; you should direct this inquiry to Gen. Olukolade; he is the one
that can give you what you want on that issue.
“Sambisa Forest and deployment of troops are all operational, and I cannot speak on them,’’ he said.
The Army spokesperson had addressed a
news conference on Tuesday in which he said that the Chief of Army
Staff, Gen. Kenneth Minimah, had directed an audit of the weapons of
the service.
Laleye said that the audit would examine areas where weapons were “in short supply, unserviceable or even obsolete.”
The audit was announced barely 24 hours
after the leader of the Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau, released a
video with some armoured personnel carriers in Nigerian Army colours at
the background.
The civil society group at the forefront
of rallies for the release of the abducted Chibok girls, had on
Wednesday said that the military authorities admitted that they lacked
equipment and weapons to rescue the schoolgirls.
The group said that the military authorities confided in its representatives during a meeting on Tuesday.
The Head, Mobilisation Committee of the
“Bring back our girls” group, Jibrim Ibrahim, in an interview with
journalists in Abuja on Wednesday said, “During our meeting with about
eight generals at the Defence headquarters, they told us that the
military did not engage in regular purchase of equipment and that they
lacked the necessary assets to undertake the rescue of the abducted
girls.’’
But the Defence Headquarters on Thursday
denied that the leadership of the military admitted before the “Bring
Back our Girls Campaigners” that it lacked the capacity to search for
the schoolgirls.
The Director of Defence Information in a
statement described as unfortunate an alleged attempt by some people to
use the meeting between the Defence authorities and the civil society
campaigners to turn the public against the military.
Meanwhile, civil rights organisations are
divided over the international assistance being offered Nigeria by
China, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.
While some saw it as a right development, others said the Federal Government should tread with caution.
The Executive Director of Anti-Corruption
Network and former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye,
said the offer must be with conditions.
He said, “We must tread with caution.
There must be clear conditions stipulated so that we don’t end up
creating a permanent presence of international troops in Nigeria.”
The Executive Director of
Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre, Dr, Abiola
Akiyode-Afolabi, said the development was long overdue.
PUNCH
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