UPDATED: #DapchiGirls: Nigerian Army, Police blame each other
Two major security agencies have exchanged words over their roles in the kidnap of 110 girls from their secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State.
The Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force expressed opposing views as each tried to absolve itself of any responsibility in the kidnap of the girls.
The army fired the first salvo when it claimed it withdrew its officials from Dapchi only after it handed over the security of the community to the police; a claim the police denied in a statement by its Yobe police commissioner, Sumonu Abdulmaliki.
Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesperson for the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, said the soldiers were withdrawn from Dapchi on January 10 -- exactly 40 days before the attack-- and not a week before as stated by Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Geidam.
Mr. Geidam blamed the military over the weekend for the attack, which he said was reminiscent of the 2013 attack in Buni Yadi.
"I blame the whole attack on Dapchi on the military and the defence headquarters who withdrew troops from Dapchi. The attack occurred barely a week after the military withdrew the soldiers from there," Mr. Geidam said while receiving Ibrahim Shettima, his counterpart from neighbouring Borno State, Saturday.
"Before then, Dapchi has been peaceful, there was never such incident. But just a week after they withdrew the troops, Boko Haram came to attack the town," he said.
Mr. Geidam said a similar situation played out in 2013 when Boko Haram invaded a school in Buni Yadi, another town in the state, and killed scores of schoolboys.
He said the insurgents struck a few days after the soldiers pulled out of Buni Yadi.
Governor exaggerated timeline of attack -- Military
The Defence Headquarters was the first to push back against the allegations on Sunday night, with its spokesperson telling PREMIUM TIMES that the governor was being mischievous with his comments
Mr. Nwachukwu, a colonel and spokesperson for the Operation Lafiya Dole in the Northeast, said in a separate statement to PREMIUM TIMES Monday evening that a whole battalion --which included hundreds of troops stationed in Dapchi and two Forward Operating Bases-- was redeployed to Kanama, in Yunusari Local Government Area.
Kanama lies about 125 kilometres northeast of Dapchi near the Yobe border with the Niger Republic.
"Contrary to the comments being circulated, troops earlier deployed in Dapchi were redeployed to reinforce troops in Kanama following attacks on troops' location at the Nigerian-Nigerien border," Mr. Nwachuku said.
In a follow-up interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the spokesperson said the troops were moved from 159 Task Force Battalion in Dapchi on January 10 when they realised that the battalion in Kanama needed a reinforcement.
The revelation that it took nearly six weeks after the soldiers were sent on reinforcement mission before the attack debunked the governor's claim that the military withdrew "a week" before the attack on Dapchi.
Before the troops were moved out, Mr. Nwachukwu said, the military leadership ensured that there was no imminent threat against Dapchi and left the police in charge of security operations in the town.
Consequently, "security of Dapchi town was formally handed over to the Nigeria Police Division located in the town"
"Troops' redeployment was, therefore, done in tandem with the exigencies of operation and not as misconstrued," Mr. Nwachukwu added.
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