He
disclosed that the security situation deserved to be properly managed as such
challenge is not to be celebrated in the media.
While
answering questions from pressmen at the Aguiyi Ironsi Sports Complex, Brigade
of Guards Headquarters, Asokoro, Abuja, Admiral Ibrahim said, “We are keeping
close to our chest what is being done. We are the victims and what you should
note is that, it pains this country especially, when some elements begin to
create an environment that appears unsafe for foreigners in this country”. When confronted with question concerning the abduction
of expatriates at Bauchi, he said, “We are doing something about it and in due
course you will get to know of the outcome”.
The
Chief of Air Staff (COAS), Air Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh has equally reassured
Nigerians that the Nigerian Air Force was ready to combat the challenges of
terrorism in the country as well as the low intensity conflicts rocking some
parts of the West African sub-region.
Air
Marshal Badeh spoke to reporters at the
weekend in Kano, shortly after a two-day working visit to the Nigerian Air
Force Units in the state, where he
commissioned a golf course, held Durbar with the officers, inspected the Air
Force Comprehensive School in Kwa, Kano State, and visited the 349 Nigerian Air Force Hospital, Kano.
He
said that the Nigerian Air Force was prepared and ready to carry out its
constitutional duties at any given time, while urging Nigerians to be rest
assured of their safety. In his words, “What is happening in Nigeria (terrorism)
is actually new but we are up to the task. How prepared are we? We have our
airplanes deployed. We have our men deployed too. Wherever there is a small
problem, they tell us and we dash there with our airplanes and merge up with
the army and take care of the situation” he emphasized.
In
a related development, a source close to one of the security agencies revealed
that the Presidency has directed that proactive measures be taken to preempt
further abduction of expatriates in the country.
Not long ago, the Chief of Army
Staff Azubike Ihejirika revealed, that our security
agencies are aware that Nigerian insurgents are already working with
their Malian counterparts.
Recently,
in Abuja, the State Security Service (SSS) disclosed that it has uncovered a
terror cell operated by Iranian-trained Nigerian terrorists in Lagos State. Parading the suspects, the SSS said that the
three men; 50-year-old Berende, Sulaiman Saka and Saheed Adewunmi were working
for Iranian terrorists planning to attack American and Israeli interests in the
country. The report also said that on the hit list of the terrorists are
prominent Nigerian citizens including former military President – General
Ibrahim Babangida, the deposed Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki and
others.
The
chief suspect, Berende was quoted to have told reporters at the SSS
Headquarters on Wednesday that he had carried out surveillance for the
Iranians.
But,
in a rather swift reaction to the allegation on Friday 22, February, 2013, Iran
denied the allegation that it had trained militants arrested in Nigeria on
charges of planning attacks on American and Israeli targets in Nigeria.
Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian, Iran Deputy Foreign Minister said such allegations were
"made up as the result of the ill will of the enemies of the two
countries' good relations", Iranian State Television reported.
"Iran
and Nigeria have friendly and close relations and despite the vast efforts of
the two countries' enemies in recent years, relations and cooperation have
always improved," Amir-Abdollahian said.
In
2004, Israeli sources said an Iranian diplomat was arrested on suspicion of
spying on the Israeli embassy in Nigeria's capital Abuja. Tehran denied any
arrest.
In
2010, authorities at the Lagos port found a hidden shipment of rockets, rifles,
ammunition and other weapons from Iran, supposedly bound for Gambia. A Nigerian
and an Iranian face criminal charges over the shipment.
No
one claims or accepts an agent whose cover has been blown. But, as Admiral Ola
Sa’ad Ibrahim warned, “the news that some countries are sponsoring terrorists
against Nigeria is fact that must be treated with caution in order not to create
confusion”. (Emphasis mine).
A
terrorist does not actually have to explode a bomb or hijack a plane or kidnap
a President in order to carry out a terrorist attack. A false bomb threat can
be a terrorist attack. A sham or misleading information concerning existence of
an imaginary terror cell can be a terrorist attack.
In
2002 there was a false alarm about “Five Illegal Men”. It all started on
December 29, 2002, when the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) issued an
alert to law enforcement agencies across the United States of America to help
find five (5) Middle Eastern men who were believed to have recently entered the
country illegally. The bureau posted photographs of the men and said they had
come to the attention of the authorities in connection with current investigations.
The
five men identified as having entered America sometimes around December 24 were
Abid Noraiz Ali, 24; Iftikhar Khozmai
Ali, 21; Mustafa Khan Owasi, 33; Adil Pervez, 19; and Akbar Jamal, 28. By New
Year’s Eve, the FBI’s website had the photos of the five illegal men with the
words in all uppercase letters, “SEEKING INFORMATION, WAR ON TERRORISM”.
On
January 2, 2003, President Bush got into the act, saying that he had personally
authorized the “all-points bulletin” for the five men who might have been
smuggled across the Canadian border in connection with a terrorist plot. In New
York City, the police increased their counterterrorist efforts as a result of
the warning.
The
President told Americans that, “We need to know why they have been smuggled
into the country, what they’re doing in the country. And the American people
need to know there’s a lot of good people working hard, whether it be on New
York’s Eve or any other time, to protect the American people”.
But,
the “Case of the Five Illegal Men” started to fall apart when a man in Pakistan
said that one of the photos could not be of a terrorist who had illegally
entered the United States, because the photo was of him, and he had the mole on
his cheek to prove it.
A
week afterwards, authorities concluded that the tale was a fabrication, the
invention of a man arrested in Canada on charges of trafficking in stolen
traveler’s cheques and running a passport counterfeiting ring. The truth was
that, no such group had attempted to enter the United States of America.
It was
thorough intelligence operations and examination of the polygraph of Michael
John Hamdani, the man who started the hoax, an alleged immigrant smuggler in
Canadian custody, that led senior FBI officials to conclude that the entire
episode had been false.
Yet
the damage had been done. America and Americans were put on their toes for as
long as the mastery surrounding the “five men” was unsolved. Security was
stretched, citizen’s fear was elevated, movements were restricted, and
businesses were somehow paralyzed for the time being of the hoax.
It
is in view of the foregoing that we should all take the advice of the Chief of
Defence Staff, Admiral
Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim seriously by treating
the news that some countries are sponsoring terrorists against Nigeria with
caution in order not to create confusion.
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