The memo contains nothing specific about Dapchi - Army denies ignoring warning of impending Boko Haram attack

macfranc007 February 28, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Adeola Opeyemi

- The Nigerian army said it removed its troop from Dapchi long before a memo warning of impending Boko Haram attack

- The army also said the memo did not specifially mention any impending attack in Dapchi but Yobe and Borno states in general

The Nigerian army on Tuesday, February 27, reacted to the allegation that it was negligent and ignored a memo from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) warning of impending Boko Haram attacks before the abduction of 110 seondary school girls in Dapchi, Yobe state.

The army said a memo, dated February 6, which was published by online news porter, Sahara Reporters, and signed by Emmanuel Aladeniyi, a brigadier-general, warned of impending attacks, did not mention Dapchi specifically.

It added that the army troops had been recalled from Dapchi long before the memo and forty days before the attack that led to the abduction of the shool girls.

The alleged memo from Defence Intelligence Agency. Photo source: Sahara Reporters

In an interview with Premium Times, army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, said the memo was a general warning on activities of the sect in Yobe and Borno states.

Nwachuwu said: “It is very crystal clear that the memo does not corroborate the argument and narrative Sahara Reporters is attempting to sell to the public.

"For one, the memo was a general warning about possible Boko Haram activities in Maiduguri and Damaturu, Borno and Yobe capitals, respectively, and did not include any specific or even general reference to Dapchi or facilities within it.

“The content reflects general intelligence alert, to which we cannot conveniently situate the attack on Dapchi, one of the several towns in Yobe state."

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“As at the time of that redeployment, there was no imminent threat on Dapchi. Rather, the threat was on Kanama where the insurgents were carrying out attacks along the Nigerian-Nigerien border.”

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previousy reported that the federal government revealed that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed at least 100 fighter jets as the search for the 110 schoolgirls abducted on February 19, while the Chief of Air Staff (CAC) Sadique Abubakar relocated to Yobe state.

There are reports that 20 of the jets have flown 200 hours as at late Monday, February 26, according to a fact sheet on the search released by Lai Mohammed, the information minister.

The report also quoted Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser (NSA), who visited Governor Ibrahim Gaidam in Damaturu, the Yobe state, on Tuesday, February 27, as announcing that 80 other planes would join the search for the girls.

Nigerians react as Boko Haram terrorists kidnap over 100 girls in Dapchi, Yobe | Street Gist