" ITREALMS: Missing Dapchi Girls: Special Task Force wanted - Ekhomu

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Missing Dapchi Girls: Special Task Force wanted - Ekhomu

A renowned security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu has advised the Federal Government to set up a special task force to investigate and rescue the 110 school girls seized from Dapchi, Yobe State on 19th February by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, reports ITRealms.

The task force, he said, should report to the National Security Adviser (NSA) including the credentialed and accomplished investigative personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, the Military Provost, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Civilian JTF and academia.

Ekhomu, who is the President, Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), in a press statement made available to ITRealms, advocated the appointment of an intelligent tough- minded investigator to head the special task force.

“This leader must be reputed as brilliant, innovative and upright,” he suggested.

The expert, troubled by the similarities between the Dapchi mass-abduction of school girls and the yet unresolved Chibok mass-kidnap saga, warned that if not properly handled as a “hot pursuit” investigative case, the nation might face huge reputational harm from the incident.

Therefore, he warned against turning the incident into ‘political theatre’ where every politician becomes an investigator in order to gain relevance.

Ekhomu advised the Federal Government to adopted sound investigative strategies to speedily rescue the Dapchi girls and called for the immediate announcement of a reward of N50 million for information leading to the rescue of the girls.

Also, he said that money will induce people who have information to talk and urged for the establishment of a tips hot-line to receive information on the incident, stating that a confidential informant numbering system should be used in order to correctly identify and reward the informant who produces the clue leading to the rescue of the girls.

Ekhomu counseled the STF to adopt the principles of “fresh pursuit” or “hot pursuit” in this investigation, contending that mass-kidnap was different from the kidnap of a single individual.

The logistics to move, cater for and feed such a large group would prove to be a vulnerability that could be exploited by the investigators to find them.

He advised the investigators to quickly debrief any students who escaped their captors, pointing out that “These students will have important information and clues which could be helpful to detectives.”


A crime scene search, he said, is imperative as the perpetrators might have dropped clues and advocated the use of overhead platforms of the Nigerian Air Force in the hot pursuit, for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions by flying over wooded areas of the Northeast.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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