DHQ dismisses report of Boko Haram attack in South-West

The Defence Headquarters has dismissed reports that the Boko Haram sect was planning to attack some South-Western states of Nigeria. This is contained in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday by the acting Director of Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar. Abubakar said the report was baseless, unfounded and urged the public to disregard such reports. He said the military in recent operations in the North- East had degraded the insurgents, stressing that it was not possible for the insurgents to coordinate attacks in any part of the country. He said the Armed Forces are using this medium to appeal to the good citizens of Nigeria particularly in the west not to lose sleep over the unfounded and fictitious reports and to go about their businesses. “The attention of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has been drawn to the above caption published by some section of the media claiming impending attacks by Boko Haram terrorists in some south western states of the country. “This story is not only baseless but lacks substance in its entirety, hence should be disregarded. “Of more worrisome is the claim that the terrorists have infiltrated the western states. “While the military and other security agencies have made tremendous successes in degrading and decimating the terrorists, it would be unthinkable to raise these unfounded rumours of Boko Haram terrorist planning attack not only in the west but any other part of the country for that matter,’’ Abubakar was quoted as saying. Abubakar said the coordination and synergy between the military and other security services, which led to the arrest of some ring leaders of the terrorists in some states, was instructive to their incapability to wage any coordinated attack. He, however, urged the public to always be wary of suspicious individuals or groups in their localities and to report such to security agencies for prompt action.