The immediate past Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin (rtd), on Wednesday disclosed that Boko Haram militants get explosives and other weapons through theft and purchase from local shops.
He made the disclosure during a chat with journalists after his pulling out ceremony held at the Naval Base, Apapa, Lagos.
While urging Nigerians to provide security agencies with necessary information that will unravel where the terrorists manufacture their Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Jibrin appealed to those whose wares are stolen to report to security agencies.
He said Nigerians used to think that the war was against the government and should be dealt with by only the military, a mindset he described as defective.
He said: “Terrorists are amongst us, they are very difficult for security agencies to identify, without needed intelligence. Since they are amongst us, the source of materials used for their devices are sold by Nigerians and some stolen from shops belonging to some Nigerians.
“To that end, one expects that owners of stolen equipment or those who equipments are bought from should report to the security agencies, their confidentiality is guaranteed because no one will disclose the source of the information.
“I am appealing to Nigerians to support President Buhari and the security agencies so that they can do their jobs well.
“Believing in the effectiveness of intelligence gathering, Nigerians must provide the needed intelligence for security forces to be able to identify would-be bombers and suicide bombers, as well as monitoring to the extent that security forces can unravel where terrorists make their IEDs.”
