Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has reacted to claims of terrorist infiltration into Nigeria’s security architecture.
Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, reportedly confessed to the infiltration in an interview on The Link Up Podcast hosted by EchoRoom.
He said the Federal Government had implemented measures to address insider threats but declined to give details in the interest of security.
The Presidency’s warning came after unverified reports on social media that a soldier deployed to an Army battalion in Geidam, Yobe State, had gone missing for about two days and was seen with Boko Haram fighters when the town was attacked.
The soldier’s commanding officer tracked his phone to Gashua, several hundred kilometres away from his duty post, and troops in the area went searching for him, according to these unverified accounts.
The reports also say he was stopped at a checkpoint while trying to travel to Gombe in disguise, and that he set off an explosive device while being taken back to Geidam, after allegedly overpowering an escort.
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The claims, which also state that information from the soldier led to the arrest of other military personnel suspected of ties to the terror group, could not be independently verified.
Bwala confirmed his assertions late Saturday when asked if Nigeria’s military had been compromised by agents of terrorism.
“They could have one or two agents in the army, anywhere else,” he said, citing precedent in both the Army and the Police as proof that such breaches were not theoretical.
“Our police have always been arrested, and soldiers arrested involved in this kind of thing,” he said.
But the Presidential aide argued that no security architecture in the world was completely immune from infiltration.
Reacting to the development, Abdullahi in an interview with Punch asked why the government had not prosecuted anyone if it had credible evidence of terrorist infiltration.
“This is a very serious allegation. But Bwala is not a serious person. So it is hard to take anything he says seriously. But if there is any credence to the allegation, shouldn’t we be hearing of arrests and prosecution rather than allegations?
“After three years in power, the APC people think they are still in opposition and not a government with power and responsibility to run a government,” he said.
