ISIS: Nigeria, French Security Chiefs Meet In Abuja

ISIS: Nigeria, French Security Chiefs Meet In Abuja

The Director of Military Intelligence of the France Ministry of Defence, Gen. Christophe Gormet and his Nigerian counterpart, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, AVM Monday Morgan met yesterday in Abuja over counter-terrorism operations in the country.

LEADERSHIP recalled that Paris has been in the news for suffering attacks from the dreaded ISIS, which has led to the death of no fewer than 130 innocent citizens last week.

The Boko Haram sect, which is perpetrating its criminal atrocities in the sub-region and Nigeria in particular is linked to ISIS which claimed responsibility for the deadly Paris attacks.

According to Gormet, the French delegation was in the country to discuss the issue of Boko Haram and intelligence gathering to counter them and ISIS.

He explained that he was visiting the country for the first time to hold crucial talks with his Nigerian counterpart on counter-terrorism. He recalled the training of 13 Nigerian military operatives in geo-spatial intelligence in Strasbourg, France.

In his own remarks, his host, Morgan, also recalled a visit of the country’s military leadership to Dakar, Senegal, where the French were requested to encourage the Francophone countries to intensify campaign against the Boko Haram.

He said that diplomatic relations between Nigeria and France had become more robust after the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to France in September, 2015.

He said that the visit culminated in the meeting which had to do with effective collaboration between Nigeria and France in the onslaught against terrorism.

He said that the military was making arrangements to set up a geo-spatial intelligent unit to combat the insurgency.

AVM Morgan said the military would require expertise of developed countries to be able to set up the planned department.

“I want to refer you back to the visit of President Buhari to France early this year; that brought about the serious synergy that we have today between the French government and Nigeria in terms of intelligence sharing.

Terrorists Now Conceal Bombs In Attractive Objects, DHQ Warns

The Defence Headquarters has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgents in one of their desperate moves have resorted to concealing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in attractive objects and warned people against falling prey to their plot.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Col. Rabi Abubakar made this disclosure yesterday in his office in Abuja at an interactive session with Defence Correspondents, where he asked the media to desist from publishing stories based on mere speculation without getting clarification from the military.

Abubakar also disclosed that five of the 100 most wanted Boko Haram terrorists, have been arrested at various locations in collaboration with other security agencies and useful information from the populace.

He urged members of the public to be security conscious and to resist the temptation of picking any strange things found around them.

He said: “All these things we are doing is to make sure that the populace remain safe from the hands of this Boko Haram terrorists who are now devising different means of fighting through this issue of IED and even some cluster bombs which they conceal in attractive objects and drop it in the streets for people to pick.

“We are using this platform to enlighten the citizens to make sure that our citizens do not fall victim on what could be avoided,” he added.

Abubakar who praised the media for contributing immensely to the success of the war, urged the media to confirm whatever information at their disposal before publishing.