A former Director of Operations in Army Headquarters, Major-General Garba Wahab (Rtd), has said attributed the Dapchi schoolgirls kidnap to Nigeria failing to draw lessons from the earlier Chibok girls kidnap.
Wahab, who featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, was visibly not surprised by the reported news as he feels the tragedy could have been avoided.
“They have not (learned a lesson) because there is no coordination and people don’t actually understand who is to do what,” he said on Wednesday.
“We are supposed to be in stabilization operation in the northeast. It is like nation-building, you must appoint somebody who is responsible.”
The retired general stressed that the military’s role is to provide security rather than be involved in stabilization drive.
He feels that the situation of renewed attacks keeps resurfacing in the troubled rejoin because other sister security agencies were not fully alive to their responsibilities.
Wahab’s comments come few days after the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam blamed the abduction of the schoolgirls on the withdrawal of soldiers by the military authorities from Dapchi.
Although the military explained that the troops were deployed following the restoration of peace in the troubled region and subsequent handover to the police division in the area, Wahab maintained that the real issues surrounding the kidnap were not been addressed.
He added, “We realised that there is a massive gap between what happened in Chibok, what has happened, what is the information available.
“Has this information been passed to other security agencies. Those who handed the girls, the girls were debriefed. They should have said these are the things that happened and a lot of information would have triggered that”.