Boko Haram cyber terrorists behind Dubai property allegations – Army Chief

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has described those behind the issue of the acquisition of two properties by his family in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, as defeated Boko Haram terrorist on migration to the nation’s cyberspace.
Buratai said that the cyber terrorists would be defeated the same way their counterparts on land were defeated by the Nigerian Army under his leadership in the North East.
He said that the Army was already developing its cyber warriors to counter the nefarious intents of the terrorists on migration to the Internet and online media houses.
The Army Chief said that the Federal Government had already made clarifications on the issue of the properties in Dubai through a statement that was issued by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali on Monday.
The Defence Minister had said that the report on the properties was an attempt by some persons to distract the leadership of the Armed Forces from the successful prosecution of the heightened campaign against terrorism in the North East.
Dan-Ali who described the report as a campaign of calumny targeting the image of the Army Chief, explained that the the Army Chief had declared the properties before the Code of Conduct Bureau which could be verified.
Buratai said that the Army would not be distracted by the antics of those behind the report in its efforts to ensure national security.
He stated also that the allegation that refurbished equipment were procured in the fight against the insurgents was part of the campaign of calumny masterminded by the cyber terrorists.
He said, “I am not supposed to comment on this because the Federal Government has already made a statement on that through the Ministry of Defence. But if you want my take on the issue, it is that we have already defeated the terrorists and the insurgents on the land, now they have migrated to the cyberspace, they have migrated to the Internet and other electronic media and so on.
“We want to assure them that these terrorists, the Boko Haram terrorists, who have migrated to the cyberspace, we will follow them to that cyberspace, and equally defeat them and clear their doubts.
“We are meeting all the terrorists in the cyberspace, we have defeated them, in the battle ground. We are developing our own cyber warriors and we will defeat them as we have done in the North East.
“The issue of the refurbished equipment is still part of campaign of calumny. I refer you to the theatre commander. We are doing internal audit, they know my position. We will continue to do that. Definitely, the way we defeated them, we will defeat them in the cyber space.”