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The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, has said Nigeria’s security agencies know the identities and locations of bandits behind recent mass abductions, including the attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, but are constrained by the risk of killing innocent civilians.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Onanuga said, “The security people, they know all the bandits that are operating in that axis. They know them. They know where they operate,” he said.
He, however, stressed that the government cannot simply launch airstrikes on suspected bandit camps due to the presence of civilians in surrounding areas.
“Our people are living around where they operate. So you can’t just go there. They need to be very careful that in the course of chasing these bandits, they don’t go and bomb innocent Nigerians,” the presidential aide said.
Onanuga recalled a past military error to illustrate the dangers of miscalculation.
“Some years ago in Borno State, when the military thought they had the right satellite connection, they bombed the wrong people. They must avoid that kind of mistake,” he said.
On the recent Niger State school abduction, Onanuga said there is still no clear record of how many students were taken because neither the school nor the Niger State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has provided complete documentation.
“As of now, the authorities are in the dark as to how many people are really missing. You said students are missing, let us have their names. Let us know what we are looking for,” he said.
The presidential spokesperson further alleged that the school principal had “disappeared,” complicating verification efforts.
“For the security, they found it very strange that they are not cooperating. What is the agenda?” he queried.
Onanuga also explained why security forces sometimes delay confronting bandit groups immediately after abductions.
“What sometimes restrains them from going after them is the risk of collateral damage. They go about abducting our people and use them as a shield so that they will not be attacked,” he said.
He added that bandits are fully aware of the consequences of defiance.
“They know that if they keep those people and refuse to release them, the next thing will be for the government to embark on a kinetic action and attack their base,” Onanuga said.
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