Military dismisses NOA’s warning on impending Boko Haram attacks in South West

The Defence Headquarters has dismissed reports credited to the National Orientation Agency (NOA) of an imminent Boko Haram attack in some South-Western states of Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday by the acting Director of Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar.

Abubakar said the report was baseless, unfounded and urged the public to disregard such reports.

He said the military in recent operations in the North-East had degraded the insurgents, stressing that it was not possible for the insurgents to coordinate attacks in any part of the country.

He said the Armed Forces are using this medium to appeal to the good citizens of Nigeria particularly in the west not to lose sleep over the unfounded and fictitious reports and to go about their businesses.

“The attention of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has been drawn to the above caption published by some section of the media claiming impending attacks by Boko Haram terrorists in some south western states of the country.

“This story is not only baseless but lacks substance in its entirety, hence should be disregarded.

“Of more worrisome is the claim that the terrorists have infiltrated the western states.

“While the military and other security agencies have made tremendous successes in degrading and decimating the terrorists, it would be unthinkable to raise these unfounded rumours of Boko Haram terrorist planning attack not only in the west but any other part of the country for that matter.”

Abubakar said the coordination and synergy between the military and other security services, which led to the arrest of some ring leaders of the terrorists in some states, was instructive to their incapability to wage any coordinated attack.

He, however, urged the public to always be wary of suspicious individuals or groups in their localities and to report such to security agencies for prompt action.

It would be recalled that the National Orientation Agency (NOA), last Thursday, raised alarm of imminent terror attacks on the South-West Zone by Boko Haram terrorists.

Sequel to this, NOA has advised schools, churches and mosques, among other usually crowded places, on the need to put measures in place to arrest any possible attacks.

A statement made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti by the state Director of NOA, Mr. Dayo Famosaya, said the alarm had become necessary because of the need to be security conscious and watch out for strangers in their neighbourhood.

Famosaya, in the statement entitled ‘Public information on Security Consciousness and Awareness’, said Boko Haram fighters may have infiltrated the South-Western part of the country, going by the content of security agents reports.

“They have threatened to deploy cluster bombs in the zone. These cluster bombs are usually housed in discarded metallic materials such as cans of beverages and soft drinks. The bombs may be concealed in bags and for it to have more grievous effect, they have planned to deploy these bombs in crowded places such as schools, markets, stadia, churches and mosques.”

The statement warned the public to watch out for people wearing flowing apparel, as it was the type of cloth they wear to hide their weapons.

Authorities of religious institutions, including public and private schools in Ekiti State, have since confirmed receipt of the NOA letter and had begun putting measures in place to foil any possible attack.