"We had intelligence report before Dapchi girls’ abduction occurred"

Former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Usman who is also one of the ambassadorial nominees has revealed that they had an intelligence report about Dapchi girls’ abduction before it occurred.

Recall that over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by the terrorists from a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State, in February 2018.

Usman who appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday February 18, said the abduction occurred because the intelligence they got was not managed properly.

He said;

“There was an intelligence report on Dapchi before it occurred. We saw indicators building up but it was not managed properly.

“State governors have a role to play because if you are given intelligence, we expect troops to move in but this does not happen in the North-East because of bad roads and difficult terrains.

“There is the need to partner with state governments to deny the bandits the use of forests. We need to manage these forests.

“Unfortunately, these forests are lying fallow. We have partnerships with defence agencies in different countries and it is critical that we build these partnerships to prevent future attacks."