The Coordinator, National Information Centre,
Mike Omeri, has said that the Federal Government
is closer to finding the abducted Chibok girls.
He stated that security forces were working on
leads that would soon result in the rescue of the
schoolgirls from Boko Haram captivity.
Omeri, who said this at his regular news briefing
in Abuja on Monday, explained that the arrest of
the chief intelligence operative officer of the Boko
Haram by troops had assisted the security forces to
get closer to finding the girls.
According to him, the Presidency is working hard
to end insecurity, and to prevent the security crisis
from spreading to other parts of the country.
He, therefore, appealed to landlords to identify the
origin of their tenants and their means of
livelihood to avoid housing insurgents or criminals
in their houses.
Omeri said, “We are moving closer to finding the
abducted girls and we have identified a number of
leads. The arrest of the Boko Haram intelligence
operative is assisting us in this regard. I can’t
speak much on this because the information is
classified.”
On the reported escape of 63 abducted women
from Boko Haram hideouts in Sambisa Forest, the
coordinator said he could not confirm the
development. He added that he had reached out to
officials in Borno State, whom he said had yet to
get across to him with the right information.
Omeri, who commented on allegation by the
Chibok community that they were not being
carried along by the government in the efforts to
rescue the abducted girls, explained that the NIC
had been giving out information in the media on
the progress of the rescue efforts.
“This centre has been giving out information in the
media and everything is in the open. So, I don’t
know what they meant by saying we are keeping
them in the dark; if they want security report, I
don’t know about that. But we can’t give out
classified information,” he stressed.