By Samuel Malik
A man declared wanted by the Nigerian Army, in connection to the whereabouts of Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, surprisingly turned himself in on Sunday but was told by the army to go back home and report today Monday.
Ahmed Umar Bolori was on Sunday, yesterday, declared wanted along with a journalist, Ahmed Salkida, and Aisha Wakil.
However, Bolori reported to one of the military barracks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital where he resides, but after waiting for two hours without being detained or interrogated, he was asked to go home and report the next day, possibly today Monday.
In a post on his Facebook page, Farooq Kperogi, a U.S-based professor, said he spoke to Bolori on phone who confirmed the development. Kperogi wondered why the army would declare someone wanted without inviting them for questioning, especially someone known to it.
“It is now self-evident that no one in the highest reaches of governance and security enforcement in Nigeria is thinking. How can you declare people “wanted” when you haven’t even invited them for questioning–and they haven’t resisted your invitation? I just got off the phone with Ambassador Ahmed Umar Bolori, one of the people declared “wanted” by the Nigerian military,” he posted.
It is likely that Bolori is known to the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur, a Lieutenant General, as he was said to have called both the army chief and the army spokesperson that issued the wanted notice, Sani Usman, a Colonel.
“He told me he called the Chief of Army Staff, the spokesperson of the Nigerian military who announced him “wanted,” and other top military officers and said he was at their beck and call and didn’t need to be declared “wanted” since he wasn’t in hiding.
“He then went ahead and turned himself in at the top military barracks in Maiduguri, waited for more than two hours, but there was no one to interrogate or arrest him.
“He called and texted the Chief of Army Staff and the military spokesperson again and pleaded with them to send someone to detain, arrest, interrogate, or do whatever they wanted to do to him because he wanted to clear his name,” the post stated.
Kperogi also posted a screenshot of a conversation between Bolori and someone that appeared to be an army general working at the Department of Military Intelligence, DMI. In the conversation, Bolori asked the general where to report to and the respondent replied that he should report to the Provost Marshal Army.
“They know where to get him if they want to. Yet they declared him “wanted.” Is there any parallel to this level of puzzling incompetence in the world? Who declares people “wanted” without any interest in seeing, much less interrogating them?” Kperogi queried.