Two of thepersons declared wanted by the Nigerian Army for alleged link with Boko Haram have expressed shock at the decision, insisting that they are innocent.
Mr Ahmed Salkida, who is a journalist and Aisha Wakil were declared wanted and invited for questioning by the Nigerian Army on Sunday hours after a new video of the abducted Chibok girls was released by the Boko Haram insurgents.
The army believes they have a knowledge of where the girls could be two years after they were taken from their school’s dormitory in Chibok, a community in Borno State, northeast Nigeria.
In his reaction to the declaration by the army, Mr Salkida, who is not in Nigeria at the moment, said that he was prepared to return to Nigeria and had indeed kick started the process to honour the invitation.
Carrying Out Professional duties a statement issued by Mr Salkida on Monday said that the army knew he was not in Nigeria prior to being declared wanted.
He said that his return home would be quickened if the government could fund histrip.
Salkida added that the army was declaring him wanted for simply carrying out his professional duties as a journalist, stressing that he does most of his work with ‘total allegiance and sacrifice to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’.
“Clearly, my status as a Nigerian journalist, who has reported extensively, painstakingly and consistently on the BokoHaram menace in the country since 2006 isan open book known to Nigerians and the international community,” he said.
In the meantime, the other person declared wanted by the army, Aisha Wakil, has also claimed she was innocent.
Mrs Wakili insisted that she had been fighting for peace long before the Chibok girls were kidnapped and was well known to the security operatives.
She wondered why she was being declared missing since she did not have a shady character.
”I have had meetings with (the) Chief of Army Staff and his people.“I told them the way forward, to allow me come with some commanders of Boko Haram and discuss with them and present the release of CBGS.
“But they chose to do things their own ways only and never gave considerations to any of my suggestions,” she said in a statement.
Wakili noted that the development had put her immediate and extended family under a lot of pressure, adding that she does not deserve such from the Nigerian government.
Credit: Channelstv
