Army, DHQ in dark over Ansaru 7

[Shola Sholaz]

Joint Task Force, the lead security agency in Boko Haram troubled states of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Kano and Adamawa, code-named Operation Restore Order, and the Defence Headquarters, yesterday, expressed helplessness on the whereabouts of the abducted seven foreign hostages, who were said to have been killed by their abductors.
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Spokesman of the task force, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, said the Army cannot comment on the whereabouts of the hostages, noting that the Defence Headquarters, which was the agency coordinating JTF operations bothering on internal security, should be the one to explain the true situation about the seven hostages.
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Briefing the media on activities of the Nigerian Army in the last one month, General Attahiru said:
"I have nothing to say about it. But I know the Defence Headquarters has said something about it."
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When contacted, Director of Defence Information, Colonel Mohammed Yerima, said he had no comment to make on the issue pointing out that the military authorities were not in the picture of the whereabouts of the foreign hostages.
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I, however, gathered that intense security searches are being conducted by all security agencies, including the military, Police, SSS, Para- military organisations.
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Particular focus is on the North-East zone of the country with a view to getting to the root of the issue of the hostages and nothing was being said to avoid endangering their lives if indeed they may be alive as suspected in some quarters.
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Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, has condemned reports on You- Tube over the alleged killing of the seven foreign hostages kidnapped by the Ansaru group.