A spokesperson of the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, has confirmed that suspected members of Boko Haram group have abducted some Nigerian scientists exploring crude in Lake Chad.
File photo: Boko Haram terrorists
Premium Times exclusively reported that some Nigerian scientists searching for crude in Lake Chad have been kidnapped, although the exact number of victims has not been confirmed.
Sources in Borno disclosed to the publication that the victims were abducted on Tuesday by suspected members of Boko Haram, and a spokesperson of the state oil firm, NNPC, also confirmed the kidnap.
Though security agencies have not spoken officially on the incident, sources in Borno said the scientists and engineers who were moving alongside some personnel of the Civilian-JTF, were ambushed near a village called Jibi in Gubio Local Government Area.
A top personnel of the NNPC currently on exploration duty in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State confirmed that the whereabouts of some officials could not be ascertained.
The source, who pleaded not to be named due to the sensitivity of information, said most of the personnel that are “supposed to be at the location where they were reportedly attacked could not be reached through their special devices of communication.”
“I have just received a call from our head office asking us to confirm the attack if we have had any contact with our personnel who were supposed to be at the location where they were reportedly attacked.
“We tried reaching some of our boys that were recently deployed from Alkaleri project site through our crew channel and we could not get them”, he said.