The Defence Headquarters on Tuesday accused Amnesty International (AI) of deliberately peddling falsehood to sabotage the planned collaboration between Nigeria and the United States to end the insurgency in the North East.
In a statement signed by Brigadier General John Agim, the Defence Headquarters was responding to a report by the Amnesty International in which it alleged that the Nigerian Military and security forces were informed that a convoy of Boko Haram fighters were heading towards Dapchi in Yobe state to abduct some school girls, and failed to act accordingly.
Brigadier General John Agim said that the report was outright falsehood and a calculated attempt to whip up sentiments and mislead unsuspecting Nigerians, demoralise friendly nations and people collaborating with security forces to end the forces of evil in the North-East.
He added that the only reason the Amnesty International was always bringing out damming reports about the Nigerian Military at strategic points was to sabotage the country’s collaboration with the United States of America.
He said, “They did that accurately in the previous administration and the United States invoked the leahy law against Nigeria at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency.
“Within this year, Amnesty International issued reports against the Military in January 2018, February 2018 and now March 2018. The question is; what is the motive of the AI?
“The answer is simple; President Trump of the United States of America has agreed to collaborate with the current government of Nigeria to end insurgency in the North East and AI wants to do everything within its powers to make sure that the US-Nigeria Anti-Terrorism cooperation does not succeed in accordance with their paymasters design”.
Agim stressed that no security force was informed of Dapchi school girls abduction as alleged by AI.
He added that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a professional military and has attained the highest form of professionalism in line with International best practices and would not have ignored warning of Boko Haram attack only to work tirelessly to get the girls back.
He continued, “ Some of our Services Chiefs, senior commanders persecuting the war against Insurgency and even some heads of security and paramilitary services are from the North- East.
“They have put their lives on the line severally to end the madness in the North-East. It is therefore very unfair for AI that does not care if the country survives as a united indivisible entity to come up every time to put doubts in the minds of the people about the military that has remained dedicated to keeping the country one.