Why we declared Journalist Salkida, others wanted — Nigerian Army

The Nigerian Army has explained that it declared a Nigerian journalist, Ahmed Salkida and two other persons – Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil – wanted because of their alleged link with the terror group, Boko Haram.

Sani Usman, the Acting Director Army Public Relations, a colonel, said in a press statement issued on Sunday evening that, “There is no doubt that these individuals have links with Boko Haram Terrorists and have contacts with them.

“They must therefore come forward and tell us where the group is keeping the Chibok Girls and other abducted persons to enable us rescue them.

The army says it was relying on relevant laws of the country, especially the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 to declare the two men and the lady wanted in connection with Boko Haram.

“We are therefore calling on all Nigerians and peace loving people to give us useful information on their whereabouts. We are also liaising with other security agencies for their arrest if they failed to turn up,” the statement said.

Mr. Sakilda is known for his access to the extremist sect.

Ms. Wakil, a lawyer, was in contact with the Nigerian government during the 2013 amnesty negotiations with the Boko Haram insurgents.

She is believed to have met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the time as part of the negotiation, which later broke down.

Mr. Bolori is known as coordinator of the Fa’ash Foundation and the Partnership Against Violent Extremism (Pave).

He lives in Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s birthplace and the epicentre of its insurgency. He witnessed the rise of the terror group, which turned violent in 2009.

The Army consider Sunday’s video as part of Boko Haram’s propaganda.

Mr. Sakilda had said on Twitter that the video was sent exclusively to him before the sect uploaded it to YouTube.

Boko Haram had said in the video that it would only negotiate with the Nigerian government through journalists known to be close to it.

The Defence Headquarters had in a statement released shortly after the video went viral on the Internet denied killing the girls and said it was examining its authenticity.

The full statement by the Army bellow:

The world is quite aware of the abduction of several persons; women, children and men, including the female students of Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State Nigeria by Boko Haram terrorists group. Consequently, appeal was made for their unconditional release by the Federal Government. The military also made concerted efforts to rescue them.

We also appealed to Nigerians that have any information to volunteer to the military or security agencies to enable us rescue them.

However, two recent incidents have pointed to the fact that, there are three individuals namely; Ahmed Salkida, (Ambassador) Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil that have information on the conditions and the exact location of these girls.

Therefore, the Nigerian Army hereby declares the two gentlemen and the lady wanted for interrogation. We are relying on the relevant laws of the land and in particular the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 (as amended) where Nigerians could be punished for failure to disclose information about terrorists or terrorists’ activities.

This becomes necessary as a result of their link with the last two videos released by Boko Haram terrorists and other findings of our preliminary investigations.

There is no doubt that these individuals have links with Boko Haram Terrorists and have contacts with them. They must therefore come forward and tell us where the group is keeping the Chibok Girls and other abducted persons to enable us rescue them.

We are therefore calling on all Nigerians and peace loving people to give us useful information on their whereabouts. We are also liaising with other security agencies for their arrest if they failed to turn up.

You are please requested to kindly disseminate this information to the public through your medium.

Thank you for your kind and usual cooperation.