Nine days after an attempt by a physically-
challenged person to bomb the Murtala
Muhammed Internation Airport in Lagos was
foiled by security operatives, THISDAY
yesterday gathered that it was merely in line
with a new trend by the Boko Haram sect to
carry out their nefarious activities with the
physically challenged persons.
The ideology behind using physically-
challenged persons was to enable them evade
suspicion, thereby using their condition as a
decoy to perpetuate acts of terror, just like the
brain behind the attempt at the MMIA, who was
caught with improvised explosive devices (IED)
.
Security sources said the physically-challenged
persons were recruited with the specific mission
to set off bombs in federal government
agencies across the country.
To forestall these, security personnel have been
charged to be doubly on guard to screen all
physically-challenged persons especially those
using tricycles around security facilities.
Although the trend could not be confirmed from
the Defence spokesperson, Major-General Chris
Olukolade, as at press time, however, the Flag
Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval
Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Ilesanmi Alade,
said the military was fully on alert at all times to
counter and prevent any acts of terrorism.
He said “I do not know where you got your
information from but what I know is that we are
fully prepared to prevent and counter any acts
of terrorism.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Defence,
Musiliu Obanikoro, while speaking at the end of
his two-day familiarisation tour of naval units
and commands in Lagos, also pleaded with
Nigerians to support the military towards
ending insurgency in the country.
Speaking at the Naval Air Base, Ojo, after
inspecting the state of ships, aircrafts and other
navy facilities, the minister said the massive
refurbishing of platforms was evidence of the
right investments being made in the military.
He said: “I want to encourage you to be our
partner in the fight against terrorism. To win
peace is a job of everybody, not just those
employed by the government or security
agencies.”
Commending the state of the barracks, he said:
“I am impressed with the level of development
going on in the town, and the federal
government would still do more.
“Those who thought we were sleeping all along
can now also whisper to others that we are not
sleeping, but working. We may not be there yet,
but eventually, we are going to get there.
“I am happy with the direction we are going,
and I think we should all support our men and
our women in uniform to win the war against
terrorism.
“If the military had kept to its core mandate
and not dabbled into politics, they would have
gone far ahead of the entire society. But in the
last 15 years of democracy, they have done
quite a lot and deserve our commendation.”
Expressing hope that things will be better,
Obanikoro commended the navy for putting
measures in place to curb the spread of the
Ebola virus at the Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo
by isolating those suspected of the disease
from the mainstream patients.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/-boko-haram-recruits-physically-challenged-persons-as-decoy-/187444/