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| Rescued Oyo schoolchildren, teachers |
Ex-DSS Chief: Oriire Rescue Not Replicable Everywhere
A former Assistant Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mohammed Ngoshe, has explained why the successful rescue of abducted pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State cannot necessarily be replicated in every kidnapping case across Nigeria.
Speaking on Channels Television's The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Ngoshe said every security operation is unique and influenced by different circumstances, stressing that comparisons between the Oriire rescue and similar incidents in other parts of the country are misplaced.
He also urged Nigerians to have greater confidence in the nation's security agencies, insisting that many successful operations never become public knowledge.
"You are right. There are mass abductions. But first of all, I want to address the issue of trust deficit. Nigerians, please, you should learn to trust your servicemen. These people are working hard, and they are achieving successes in their own way.
"For every successful operation that you see against Nigeria, more than five to ten such operations must have been foiled. These are no easy successes to achieve. So the issue of trust deficit should please be closed," he said.
The retired DSS chief maintained that the circumstances surrounding the Oriire abduction were different from those in states battling insurgency, particularly Borno.
"Every case, every security operation, has its own dynamics. What happened in Oriire might not be the same as what is happening in Borno.
"The political aspect and other considerations that weighed on the minds of the terrorists to go into Oriire are not the same considerations given to the issue in Gwoza.
"I am from Gwoza, and Gwoza was attacked. A lot of our people are still in captivity. Our circumstances are completely different from what happened in Oriire," Ngoshe stated.
Commenting on the recurring violence in Plateau State, Ngoshe attributed much of the crisis to cycles of reprisal attacks between communities.
"The problem in Plateau, if you look at it critically, has a lot to do with retaliatory attacks. When you attack a Berom man and kill him, as a Fulani man, you should know, without anybody giving you intelligence, that you are going to be attacked by Berom people.
"And if a Berom man should attack a Fulani community, raze it to the ground, kill their people and rustle their cows, nobody needs to tell you that they are going to come after you," he said.
Defending the secrecy surrounding the Oriire rescue mission, Ngoshe dismissed criticism that security agencies failed to provide adequate public information, arguing that such operations cannot be conducted in the public domain.
"It is not an operation that is supposed to be carried out on the pages of newspapers or on the radio or television stations," he said.
According to him, intelligence gathered by the DSS showed that the kidnappers initially abducted the schoolchildren and teachers to force the Federal Government to release detained Ansaru leaders.
However, he said the security agencies rejected the terrorists' demands and instead intensified pressure by targeting their support network.
"The service went into other activities, especially the arrest of their own leaders, their own assets, like their parents, their wives and their children. All of them are collaborators.
"Upon this happening, the terrorists now opened communication with the service and asked what needed to be done, and they gave those conditions. Those conditions were denied flatly.
"The terrorists were then put under pressure. The pressure was transferred from the government to them," he explained.
Ngoshe further claimed that security operatives successfully isolated the kidnappers by disrupting their supply chains and intelligence network.
"They were denied access to food. They were denied access to weapons. Their informants were taken out and used as assets.
"They saw that they had no option other than to surrender," he said.
He added that following the victims' release, security forces launched an operation against the kidnappers, resulting in casualties and arrests.
"Some of them were eliminated, and about four of them were critically wounded and picked. The four that were critically injured died in hospital, while the others are being processed for prosecution," Ngoshe stated.