A couple of weeks ago, the military high command had obtained approval of political authorities in Abuja to go all out and clear the region of insurgency before the February general elections
Browsing: Major General Chris Olukolade
Mopping up operation is ongoing in the area, Olukolade added
The arrest of the officers was exclusively disclosed to PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday by reliable military insiders who requested not to be named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter
Amnesty International on Wednesday claimed that Nigeria’s military top brass were warned of brutal Boko Haram attacks on the North East towns of Baga and Monguno but failed to take action
It would be recalled that in the early hours of Wednesday, hundreds of terrorists, including foreign nationals, were repelled in a determined effort by Nigerian troops from expanding their operational bases and capturing weapons
He said since the unfortunate incident, a lot of speculations and conjectures had been peddled by a section of the press, particularly the online media, regarding the casualty rate
The terrorists had launched massive attack from different directions of the town on Friday evening
Some of the recent arrest include professional cameramen for the terrorist group, who are experts in photo, video recording and filming of their attacks on communities and atrocities against innocent citizens
Many of the soldiers and residents were said to have fled to neighbouring local government areas
The girls, numbering about 300, were abducted by Boko Haram on April 14
About 300 girls were abducted by members of Boko Haram on February 14, 2014, while they were writing their final examinations
Last week, the insurgents shot son of a former President, Colonel Adeboye Obasanjo, in the leg during gun duel in Adamawa State
The Chairman of the Forum, who is also the Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, made the disclosure at the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, when he led other members of the forum to the palace after their monthly meeting and advocacy engagements in Lagos
The Nigerian authorities said such barbarity had no place in the military and promised to investigate
At Konduga, also in Borno State, a suicide bomber in a Golf car on Friday crashed into a checkpoint, killing himself, a policeman and three vigilante youth members
This revelation is contained in the Volume 23 No 4 issue of Media Review, a monthly assessor of the Nigerian media
Olukolade therefore appealed to media practitioners and the public at large to exercise restraint in the way they speculate and analyse the position of the girls
But independent sources put the number of dead from the explosion at not less than 60
“I want to reaffirm that as we sit here, patrols are ongoing on land and air in the entire north-east with special focus on where we believe that we need to secure our girls,” he said
Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, and the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri, on Friday denied the report in the media that the President was scheduled to visit Chibok, 32 days after the abduction of the girls