Abia 486: FG releases 144 suspects, denies fresh kidnappings

Security agencies have released 144 out of the 486 persons arrested in Abia State recently for suspicious movement.

They were travelling in a convoy of 35 buses when they were stopped at night by soldiers who said they could not explain their mission or destination.

All of them were from various northern states, leading to protests by northern groups over “ethnic profiling” ─ especially as they immediately called insurgency suspects by Abia State government officials.

Mr. Mike Omeri, coordinator of National Information Centre, made told a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday that while 144 had been released, the rest were still being kept and had been making “useful information” having been interrogated.

He said the security agencies were on the trail of their sponsor.

“Those interrogated have mentioned names of individuals and the security agencies are on their trail,” Omeri said.

He said that one of the suspects connected with the packaging of the trip had been named and investigations were on to unravel issues involved in the incident.

The military said recently that a terror suspect had been identified among those arrested.

Meanwhile, federal government has refuted reports on the abduction of 60 women in Damboa, Borno.

Omeri said that the claim in several media reports about the abduction of 60 women could not be verified.

“We hereby wish to state that based on available facts before us there was no abduction of 60 persons in Borno.

“We have checked everywhere and no information to verify the claim, our findings indicate that nothing on the ground to prove any act of abduction.

“I have a lot of reports that are not just true but people go out to reel out figures.

“I am going to protest to some media houses by writing a protest letter because they are not giving the right information, what they do is worrisome,” Omeri said.

Omeri said that Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno confirmed that there were no sufficient facts on the alleged abduction of 60 women.

“Who can say he carried out a head count of the women during the mayhem?” he asked.

He advised Nigerians to desist from playing with figures of persons abducted even “when none took place”.

According to him, this reinforces the need for media organisations to always refer to the centre before going to press.

He added that any other contrary action would be deemed as a deliberate attempt to create confusion and fear among the populace.