By Chizoba Ogbeche
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday, vowed that the military will resist any overt or covert attempt by the members of the Boko Haram sect to take any part of the Nigerian territory.
Reacting, yesterday in Abuja, to reports in the media over the weekend claiming that insurgents had hoisted their flags in Damboa town, the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, maintained that the federal government, will not concede an inch of its territory to “terrorists,” under any guise.
This is as the Deputy Director Media and Public Affairs of the Department of State Service (DSS), Marilyn Ogar, has cleared the air on the alleged arrest of the former minister of education and leader of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Group, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, noting that she was only subjected to the normal security checks conducted on passengers traveling by air.
The media had earlier yesterday be awash with reports of Ezekwesili’s arrest and detention by the service as well as that her passport was temporarily seized at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Fielding questions from journalists at the National Information Centre (NIC), Abuja, Olukolade, said security operatives were alive to their statutory responsibility of containing all forms of threats to the Nigerian state.
Damboa has come under serial attacks by suspected insurgents, who had also attacked some military and police posts in the past.
He said: “We are not conceding any portion of the country to terrorist groups; we are sure that Nigerian security agencies have firmed-up deployment to that area.
“Attempts by journalists to obtain a categorical position of the situation in Damboa failed, as he said: “I will not be stampeded to endorse what you read on social media.”
He, however, restated the fact that “no body, I repeat, will be allowed to hoist any flag in any portion of land belonging to this country.”
Meanwhile, the DSS spokesperson, has accused Ezekwesili of trying to “create a scene” at the airport, even as she warned that the service “cannot be deterred from doing its job.”
On his part, Omeri said: “I think this kind of thing is wrong, it is deadly. Why are we ridiculing our country?”
