Chad denies funding or arming Boko Haram

The Chadian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Isah Braimah, yesterday, exonerated his country of funding or arming the Boko Haram insurgents.

He stated this when members #BringBackOurGirls, BBOG, protested to Chadian embassy in Abuja, with banners, asking the Chadian government to explain its roles in the insurgency in the North-East and demanding a response to a media report that a close ally of the Chadian President, had been arrested by Cameroonian gendarmes, with lethal arms meant for Boko Haram.

He also asked the BBOG, coalition members who visited his mission, to meet the Federal Government for answers in the abducted Chibok girls.

The envoy, said his country had no inkling to the whereabouts of the over 200 Chibok girls who were abducted by the Boko Haram sect in April, 2014, stressing that it was only the Nigerian government that should be held responsible for the rescue of the school girls.

The leader of the BBOG members, Aisha Yesufu, who led five representatives of the movement to the meeting with the ambassador, quoted him as saying that Chad was not supporting Boko Haram insurgents in its war against Nigeria.

According to Yesufu, the envoy accused the Nigeria Police Force of dragging the name of his county in the mud by alleging that it arrested a Chadian with arms, that Isah challenged the Police to provide evidence of Chadian involvement in the terrorism in Nigeria.

The BBOG leader, who briefed other coalition members after the meeting outside the Chadian embassy gate, stated that the ambassador could not provide satisfactory answers to many questions that were posed to him on the Boko Haram insurgency and his nation’s questionable roles.

“The ambassador said the the way they practice Islam in his country is different from Nigeria because Muslims co-exist peacefully with others. He said we should meet our government for answers on the Chibok girls and denied that his country was supporting or sponsoring Boko Haram,” she said.

She said that the group was advised to send a letter to President Idris Derby of Chad, who would be expected to give detailed response to BBOG’s inquiries.

Yesufu further said her movement would also dispatch a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, as advised by the envoy, to demand an update on efforts being made to rescue the Chibok girls who have been in Boko Haram captivity for seven months.


Credit: Laide Akinbolade/Vanguard