Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Boko Haram kingpin among 486 Abia suspects –Military

A terror kingpin in the list of wanted terrorists of security forces in Nigeria has been arrested, the Defence Headquarters has revealed.
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The terror kingpin, according to a  statement issued by the Director, Defence Information, Major General, Chris Olukolade, in Abuja, was detected in the ongoing screening of the 486 suspects nabbed while travelling in over 33 Hiace Hummer buses at night, on Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, on Sunday.
“So far, other security agencies, including the para-military, have joined the screening exercise to ascertain the status of the remaining suspects. 

“Those identified as possible security risk or illegal immigrants are expected to be identified for further action. 
“Meanwhile, the identified terror kingpin has been taken into custody. 
“Further development will be communicated to you (the media)  in due course,” the statement read.
The Defence Headquarters also raised the alarm over moves by some foreign writers, hiding under the banner of Human Rights Watch, to discredit its counter-insurgency operation, saying that it would not succumb to their pressure.
A statement issued by Major-General Olukolade maintained that “the knack by some foreign writers, especially the ones now hiding under the banner of Human Rights Watch to willfully twist facts and deliberately impute ulterior motives, all with a view to discrediting Nigeria’s counter-insurgency operation, is becoming legendary.”
The spokesman for the Defence Headquarters, in a statement entitled: “Re: 40,000 reasons why Sri-Lanka is no model for Nigeria,” averred that one Andrew Stroehlein, in an article published in the Human Rights Watch news publication of June 16, 2014, which was widely syndicated to many dailies in Nigeria and abroad, tried so desperately to distort the import of interactions between Nigerian military and visiting Sri-Lankan military delegation at the Defence Headquarters and the statement that emanated from the event on June 12, 2014.”
The statement, which conveyed the outcome of the visit and the meeting that Mr Stroehlein chose to misinterpret and use as launch pad to disparage the Nigerian military, was explicit enough in stating that Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff assured the visitors that “Nigerian military is seriously considering the counter-insurgency experience of Sri Lankan military, with a view to identifying those areas that could be operationally beneficial to Nigeria in its battle to defeat terrorism.”
The statement read in part: “Obviously, it is only typical for people with Mr Stroehlein’s mindset to trumpet the falsehood, as reported especially in some foreign news channels, claiming that Nigeria has decided to adopt the Sri Lankan model in the fight against terror. 
“How else will Mr Andrew Stroehlein and his co-travelers, who often shield their bias with the claim of defence of human rights, justify their desperation to denigrate and undermine the integrity and sovereignty of other nations? Which other way will their obsession with the illusion of their supremacist positions be made presentable? 
“They simply could not fathom why Nigeria or its military should give a thought to listening to Sri Lanka’s experience in fighting terrorism.”
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