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Lack Of Security Check Caused Boko Haram Ambush – Retired General

A security consultant, Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano, says a prior security check would have prevented the Boko Haram attack on an oil exploration team … Continue reading Lack Of Security Check Caused Boko Haram Ambush – Retired General


Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano
Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano
Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano
Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano

A security consultant, Retired Brigadier General Olusegun Ajano, says a prior security check would have prevented the Boko Haram attack on an oil exploration team in Borno State.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Brigadier General Ajano believes the oil workers and their escorts fell into the terrorists’ ambush as a result of a few things that were not done on the part of the security agencies.

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An exploration team – including five lecturers of the University of Maiduguri, about 15 soldiers, 11 members of the civilian JTF and some staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – was ambushed by the insurgents on Tuesday last week.

“I was taken aback when I heard about the kidnap and the murder of a number of personnel that were in that axis. I believe that a few things were not done; prior security check.

“The security agencies would have advised the government against going to the area where the oil exploration is taking place until it is cleared and confirmed safe,” Ajano said.

Reacting to the call for restructuring and agitation for secession in some parts of the country, the security expert noted that Nigeria still exists as a country.

He maintained that a prior thorough security check needed to be carried out before any operation could take place in the North-East.

“Nigeria as a country is still existing and I believe that if anybody was going to take a decision to do anything serious in the North-East axis of Nigeria, you have a responsibility to carry out a thorough security check; that I’m sure lacked in this particular incident. I believe it was done on assumption, it might have been done without the consciousness of the government”.

On Monday, the Director of Defence Information, Major General John Enenche, had blamed the pockets of Boko Haram attacks on the information the insurgents get from informants.

He told Channels Television that unless the terrorists were given adequate information about the progress of the exploration exercise, the team would not have fallen into the ambush.

Major General Enenche insisted that some people must have been monitoring the oil workers and their escorts, stressing that conspirators ensured the attack on the team was successfully carried out.

He, however, called on the public to support the onslaught against the insurgents by availing the military with useful and prompt information to wipe out the terrorists.