Boko Haram planning another ‘Chibok’, says FG

The federal government has raised the alarm that the Boko Haram sect is planning to carry out fresh abductions to attract global attention.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, saying the group is trying “to repeat the kidnap of the Chibok girls”.

The statement advised people to be on the lookout and called for the beefing up of security in public places.

“The planned abduction is in line with the insurgents new modus operandi of focusing on soft targets, having being routed from their stronghold and their capacity to stage spectacular attacks substantially degraded,” read the statement signed on Mohammed’s behalf by Segun Adeyemi, his media aide.

“While the largely defeated insurgents have now concentrated their attacks on soft targets, like motor parks, schools and entertainment centres, they have been decimated to a level that they are now incapable of staging spectacular attacks like they used to do.

‪”The kidnap of the Chibok girls in 2014, which attracted global attention to the terrorist group, is what it is now trying to repeat, hoping it can find vulnerable targets, especially schools, or a group of foreigners outside the frontline states.

‪”The plan by Boko Haram is also part of an overall strategy by the terrorists to seek to negatively impact on the psyche of the gallant troops who have routed them (terrorists) from their stronghold and also give the impression that they have not been largely defeated by the December 2015 deadline given by this administration to effectively degrade the insurgency in the northeast.

“This is why we have decided to issue this alert to enable the authorities of both public primary and secondary schools in remote locations, particular in the northern states, to upgrade security arrangements.

‪”It is also aimed at alerting the general public, operators of hotels and entertainment centres, motor parks and similar facilities to also upgrade their security arrangements for the holidays.”