20th June, 2018
The Defence Headquarters has said that there was no concrete evidence to support the claim that the Islamic State – ISIS was sending its members to Nigeria to train the Boko Haram terrorists.
“It is pertinent to state categorically that there is no concrete evidence on the ground to back the claim,” Brig.-Gen. John Agim, the Acting Director Defence Information said on Wednesday in Abuja.
Agim recalled that the Barnawi faction of Boko HaraM terrorists in 2016 pledged alliance to the ISIS after troops dislodged them from Sambisa forest.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria is aware that there is collaboration between terrorist groups, thus, it is important to note that the activity of one group in a country influences other groups in other countries and because of this knowledge, activities of other terrorist groups usually affect our own military strategy.
“The Nigeria military will continue to condemn all tactics by terrorist groups of isolating the Armed Forces of Nigeria, from any foreign collaboration,” Agim said.
He assured that proactive measures were being taken to nip any such development (ISIS training terrorists in Nigeria) “if it exists in the bud”.
The DDI assured Nigerians that the armed forces was capable of defending the country and its citizens from every attempt to infiltrate it by criminals.
“Hence, the ill motivated stories, clips and their claims should be disregarded,” he said.