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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