THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has raised the alarm about plans by Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and bandits to attack the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and some states in the country.
In a memo, the NSCDC Deputy Commandant General (DCG) Operations, Dauda Mungadi, alerted all state commands of the Corps that two separate bandit groups have concluded plans to attack Abuja and other states.
The memo titled ‘Heightened Plots By Terrorists To Stage Coordinated Attacks in Parts of the Country’ was released on July 25.
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“We have received credible intelligence that Boko-Haram and the ISWAP terrorist groups have mobilised fighters and high calibre weapons, particularly Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) launchers, Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns and General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGS) which they intend to deploy for the offensive in Katsina State.
“In another development, two separate bandit groups are plotting coordinated attacks on North-West, North-Central and South-West (Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kogi, FCT and Lagos), respectively,” the memo read.
The alert revealed that the two sects owned sophisticated weapons for targets in Katsina State.
The civil defence directed its personnel to increase deployment to schools, worship centres and critical national assets in their respective states to checkmate possible threats by criminal elements.
The memo is coming after terrorists ambushed the Presidential Guards Brigade along the Kubwa-Bwari road in Abuja.
It was the second attack on the Presidential Guards Brigade in one month.
The elite arm of the Nigerian Army is responsible for protecting the President.
Earlier, on July 6, gunmen attacked Buhari’s advance convoy, which included troops of the Presidential Guards Brigade, in Katsina State.
Two officers in the convoy were shot.
The NSCDC DCG Operations, in the memo, also advised all state commands to protect public places and government facilities across the country.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.