Emmanuel Onani, 
Barely 48 hours after the United States’ African Command (AFRICOM) warned of possible infiltration of the West African sub-region by suspected Al-Qaeda, and Islamic States’ terrorists, the Detence Headquarters has said there was nothing new about the development.
Recall that the Commander of AFRICOM, Major General. Dagvin Anderson, had issued the warning on Tuesday, noting that the terrorist groups had expanded their hold on Mali, and also spread to Northern Burkina Faso, with noticeable attacks on infrastructure
However, the military has said that it had earlier raised the concerns, adding that efforts were ongoing to neutralise all threats to national security and sovereignty of Nigeria.
Reacting to the alarm at a press conference held at the DHQ in Abuja, Thursday, the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, said: “It was the Nigerian military who raised the alarm of movement of terrorists from the Middle East to West Africa and is conscious of it”.
According to him: “Our attention being drawn to the fact that terrorists from other zones are coming here; I think it would be good for us to be keeping records of events as they unfold.
“For me, this is not the first time they are raising such an alarm; the alarm is as old as maybe five or 10 years and the armed forces and the country are conscious of it.
“When the conflict in Libya was declared officially that it ended, which did not end, what happened? It was we, our NIA (National Intelligence Agency), state service and all that raised the information that this people are moving.
“Have we not captured foreigners among the people that have been terrorizing us in this country?
“So, it is just like a call to keep doing what you are doing, so the general public should know that the security agencies are on top of that one.”
Meanwhile, the DHQ has maintained that troops have continued the aggressive clearance operations in troubled zones of the country, especially the North East, North-West, as well as North Central.