Foreign organisations ‘promoting ISWAP in Nigeria’

The Centre for Social Justice, Equality and Transparency has accused some media outfits of promoting the activities of the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Nigeria.

The group said this in a report released on Thursday.

CESJET in the report presented by Isaac Ikpa, its executive director, revealed that in the course of their investigation, the were able to identify about 25 foreign outlets covering north-east Nigeria, are culpable.

According to the report, the organizations operate in such a way that does not augur well for the Nigerian troops.

The report further claimed that in most instances, they make “unreasonable demands” on the Nigerian authorities for clearance to go into the theatre of operations, and when such request is not granted, they resort to writing unfavourable reports.

“The activities of the Nigerian Army have come under the scrutiny of late with the news making the round how it is losing its soldiers daily to Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist. In the course of the research work, it was discovered that a couple of issues were responsible for the negative reportage of the fight against terrorism in North East Nigeria,” Ikpa said.

“The team of researchers was able to identify the influx of these organizations in North East Nigeria under various nomenclatures and mostly attached the to the myriads of international non-governmental organization supposedly carrying out humanitarian work in the region.

“It was identified that the high presence of these organizations had constituted an encumbrance in the operations of the Nigerian Army in the fight against terrorism. Despite the challenges, the Nigerian Army has remained focused and determined to bring to an end the insurgency in North East Nigeria.

“It was discovered that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen, Tukur Buratai routinely visits the troops unannounced for an on-the-spot assessment of the operational effectiveness the troops and to have first-hand information on the issues on the ground.

“It was discovered that this routine visit is partly responsible for some of the successes recorded by the Nigerian Army as it has been identified as a morale booster for the troops. Our team of researchers identified that during such visits, the Chief of Army Staff ensures that he relates with the soldiers after been briefed by the commanders in an attempt to ensure that there is no communication gap between the commanders and the troops in the battlefront.

“The team of researchers was able to identify that the activities of the foreign NGO’s are dependent on funding from international donor agencies and as such they must give a justification for their continued stay in Nigeria and more funding for their operations.

“The Centre for Social Justice, Equality and Transparency (CESJET) after detail analysis of the reports turned in by the different group of researchers under various sub-themes concluded that the Nigerian Army has been highly professional in the fight against terrorism in North East Nigeria.

“The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai has provided exceptional leadership in the course of the fight against Boko Haram/ISWAP in North East Nigeria. This much was gathered from community leaders whose areas have been affected by the activities of Boko Haram/ISWAP.

“The Centre for Social Justice, Equality and Transparency highly recommends that the influx of the foreign media organizations operating in North East Nigeria be checkmated as their activities have constituted a nuisance to the operations of the Nigerian Army.”