By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Israeli counter-terrorism experts are expected in Nigeria any time soon to join an international coalition to find and rescue nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno state, about a month ago.
This is the outcome of a telephone conversation between President Goodluck Jonathan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.
Mr. Netanyahu had called the president in the afternoon to convey his country’s sympathy and solidarity with Nigeria and offered to send a team of counter-terrorism experts to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operation.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said in a statement in Abuja that Jonathan welcomed the offer and briefed Netanyahu on actions already being taken by Nigeria’s armed forces and security agencies to locate and rescue the girls.
The president told the prime minister that Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel’s globally-acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operation.
He also expressed optimism that success would soon be achieved considering the deployment of considerable military and intelligence-gathering skills and assets by the international community in support of Nigeria’s efforts to find and rescue the girls.
Netanyahu expressed Israel’s total condemnation of the mass abductions, adding that the team of experts from his country would soon arrive in Nigeria to collaborate with teams from the United States and Britain who are already in the country and their Nigerian counterparts to intensify the search for the girls.
The prime minister reaffirmed Israel’s willingness to give the government and people of Nigeria all possible support and assistance to overcome