The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has accused Amnesty International (AI) of sponsoring reports of presence of Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) fighters in the country, ostensibly to isolate her from global collaboration.
This was as the DHQ further alleged of an existing link between AI and the Al Bannawi faction of Boko Haram, which it said, had pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2016.
Acting Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. John Agim, while reacting to a report that Jihadists were being sneaked into the country by ISIS, preparatory to attacking Britain, however, reiterated the readiness of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, to contain threats to the country’s peace and security.
Though Agim said there was “no concrete evidence on ground” to validate the alarm, he, nonetheless, acknowledged collaboration among terrorist groups.
“The Defence Headquarters wishes to respond to a report making the round that ISIS has been sending her members to Nigeria to train Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) members. It is pertinent to state categorically that there is no concrete evidence on the ground to back their claim,” Agim said.
According to the acting DDI, “The AI Barnawi faction of BHT in 2016 pledged alliance to the ISIS as a result of our troops’ fire power which dislodged them from Sambisa forest and surrounding areas in the North-East.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria is aware that there is collaboration between terrorist groups, thus, it is important to note that the activity of one group in a country influences other groups in other countries and because of this knowledge, activities of other terrorist groups usually affect our own military strategy.
“The Nigeria Military will continue to condemn all tactics by terrorist groups of isolating the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) from any foreign collaboration. If terrorist groups understand the importance of collaboration for evil global attacks, then, it is the highest degree of irresponsibility for AI to use repeated falsehood with the intention of isolating AFN from her citizens’ support and international collaboration to win the fight against BHT and other forms of terrorism in Nigeria.”
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