We Don’t Need UN Support To Fight Boko Haram – Dasuki
Sambo Dasuki, has said that Nigeria does
not require the support of the United
Nations (UN) to successfully prosecute
the war against Islamist sect, Boko
Haram.
He insisted that Nigeria and her neighbours
can handle the insurgents.
In an interview with the BBC yesterday, the
NSA who acknowledged that the sect was a
"real security threat" however said "no"
when asked if Nigeria needed outside help,
but later said it was an option to involve UN
and AU forces even though regional
partners were best placed to deal with the
problem.
This is coming on the heels of a pledge by
the Special Representative of the United
Nations (UN) Secretary-General for West
Africa and UN Special Envoy to Nigeria, Dr
Mohammed Ibn Chambas, that the apex
global body would support Nigeria in the
ongoing counter-terrorism operations.
A statement signed by Lieutenant
Commander Way Olabisi on behalf of the
director defence information, Major General
Chris Olukolade, said Chambas made the
disclosure when he visited the Chief of
Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh
at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja
yesterday.
The statement quoted Chambas as saying
that the United Nations would be ready to
give Nigeria all the needed support to
counter terrorism in the country. He
therefore called for collaborative efforts
with neighbouring countries in order to
defeat the menace of terrorism.
For his part while thanking the UN envoy,
Chief of Defence Staff said that Nigeria
welcomes any form of assistance that could
help in the prosecution of her campaign
against Boko Haram insurgents.
"He assured the UN Envoy that Nigerian
Armed Forces would continue to adhere
strictly to the rules of engagement and other
guidelines relevant to the observance of the
fundamental Human Rights and would work
with relevant organisations accordingly.
"The CDS used the occasion to reassure the
UN that the military's presence and roles
before, during and after Nigeria's general
elections were focused on ensuring peaceful
conduct of elections and protection of lives
and properties," Olabisi said.
Since the Nigerian government declared a
state of emergency 20 months ago in three
north-eastern states to deal with the
insurgency, Boko Haram has strengthened
and now controls several towns, where it
has declared a caliphate.
The militants gained worldwide notoriety
after kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls
in April last year – who have yet to be
rescued.
Recently they have carried out raids into
neighbouring Cameroon and this week Boko
Haram's leader said his fighters had carried
out the brutal attacks on the Nigerian town
of Baga. He said they had seized enough
weapons from Baga's military base to
"annihilate Nigeria".
Some reports said that as many as 2,000
people died in Baga but Nigeria's
government has disputed this, putting the
toll at 150.
Dasuki told the BBC's Newsday programme
that close to 50 per cent of Nigeria's army
was now deployed to the north-east, which
he said showed how seriously the situation
was being taken.
He, however, dismissed complaints by
soldiers that they were not being given
enough weapons and working equipment to
tackle Boko Haram, saying there were
"cowards" within the armed forces who
hampered the campaign against the
insurgents.
"Nigerian soldiers currently make up the
bulk of UN peacekeepers deployed to
Africa," he added.
Efforts to form a multinational force
involving Nigeria, Niger, Chad and
Cameroon have floundered. However,
following a meeting this week, it was agreed
that they would seek UN backing for the
force – and move the headquarters from the
captured town of Baga to Chad's capital,
N'Djamena.
Over the weekend, Chadian soldiers
deployed to Cameroon's border with Nigeria
to help secure the porous border.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State, John
Kerry says he plans to visit Nigeria in a
couple of days.
Kerry made the announcement in a speech
discussing how to tackle violent extremism
at the Davos economic conference.
An attempt to infiltrate the official website of
the Defence Headquarters (DHQ),
defenceinfo.mil.ng, has been uncovered
while the hackers have consequently been
knocked off the military site.
This was disclosed by the director of
defence information, Major General Chris
Olukolade, who initially took to his twitter
handle, @GENOlukolade, before releasing a
press statement to journalists later in the
day yesterday, which announced that the
hackers had been stopped.
Olukolade said that the hackers defaced the
front end of the website earlier in the day
but could not penetrate the database of the
site. He revealed that the hackers may have
targeted the military blogsite because of the
crucial role it plays in the dissemination of
information on the ongoing counter-
terrorism operations.
He added that preliminary investigation
revealed that the attack was launched from
the site end of the host, saying that one Ima
Sadiq, who posed as the hacker on the site,
had been knocked off and the site has been
restored.
"The Defence Headquarters' information
blogsite, defenceinfo.mil.ng, was hacked
into at the early hours of Friday, 23 January,
2015. The site was defaced at the front end.
However, the hackers could not infiltrate the
database of the site.
"Preliminary investigation shows that the
attack was from the end of the site's host.
One ImaSadiq who posed as the hacker has
been knocked off and normal activities on
the channel has resumed.
"Apparently, the site was targeted because
of its role as a major channel for
disseminating information on military and
security activities in the nation's counter-
terrorism campaign," he said.
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