Nigeria: Bakassi - Cameroun Hasn't Accused Nigeria, Says Azazi

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Andrew Azazi, has said that Cameroon has not accused Nigeria soldiers of being responsible for the death of the 21 Cameroonian soldiers in the Bakasi Peninsula , last Monday, because that country is aware of the high level of criminality along the Nigerian creeks.

Azazi who stated this while responding to questions from journalists in Port Harcourt, Friday, during a visit to the Joint Task Force (Operation Flush-Out 3), was of the view that Nigerian troops had long voluntarily withdrawn from the area.

"The Cameroonian army has not insinuated that the Nigerian army was involved in the attack, as has been reported in the media. You know I am in Nigeria and we have all heard in the media that soldiers were killed somewhere in Cameroon, well I issued a statement this morning saying that there are speculations that Nigerian military was involved and I said that is very untrue.

"We voluntarily withdrew from Cameroon and no troops are deployed in that area. So if troops were not deployed in that area, how could Nigerian soldiers have been involved? Cameroonians are not insinuating that Nigerian soldiers attacked them, so if Cameroonians are not insinuating, then how could they attack Nigeria ? There is a high level of criminality along our creeks, there is a high level of criminality along our roads all over Nigeria , let's put that in perspective. Nigerian soldiers cannot be involved in things like that", he said.

On his part, Brigade Commander of the 2 Amphibious Brigade and Chairman of JTF in Port Harcourt, Brigadier Sarkin-Yaki Bello, informed Azazi that the lack of equipment and proper medical arrangement for his soldiers as part of the problems facing the
JTF.
General Azazi, however, said the task force would manage the resources at its disposal to handle the task it has been mandated to execute

"You can never have a perfect situation where you'll have everything that you want at your disposal. What you'll want to do is to meet your needs as the situation arises, we can't have everything, but the task force has been working assiduously to make sure that with whatever they have they are able to meet their obligations", he said.

The Defence boss later visited the Marine Base Sub-sector headquarters of Sector 1 of the JTF Command as well as Nembe Waterside, Abonnema Wharf and Soboma George's former base before he was conquered and chased out of Port Harcourt .