The Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) say they will embark on a show of force within the Maiduguri metropolis, Borno state.
TheCable understands that the decision was reached at a meeting held at the Borno police command.
The meeting was attended by the Garrison Commander 7 Decision, other heads of other security agencies, leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Chief Imams, among others.
According to Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency expert in Lake Chad, the show of force is a result of rumours of protest over a blasphemous statement made against the Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W) by another Lady on her Facebook page.
The lady, Neomi Goni, while arguing on Facebook with a fellow user of the platform, reportedly made a blasphemous statement, which immediately went viral with residents and youths calling for her arrest and prosecution “or face another consequence”.
Neomi immediately deleted her Facebook account.
Zagazola said, “according to competent security sources who were present during the meeting, it was discovered that Noemi was not in Borno when she made the statement but only attended one of the institutions in the state and had since left the state”.
The expert said security agencies had also moved to seal the former compound occupied by Neomi to avoid the bridge of security of the occupant.
“On his part, The CP, Abdu Umar said Borno had suffered its share of security challenges in the past 12 years, as such, we don’t want to go through that experience again, hence, the need to proactively engage the stakeholders to beckon on their followers to sustain the peace.” Zagazola wrote on his Twitter .
“We have not only engaged the religious leaders, the police and other security agencies have, since the unrest started in Sokoto, deployed personnel across the state capital and also stepped up our surveillance,” he quoted the Police boss.
“In case of any eventuality or surprise, we are also going to embark on a show of force from Sunday to alert residents that we are active, on alert, and battle-ready to pounce on anybody that will want to attempt to disturb public peace.” (The Cable)
