By our reporter 11.11.2025
Former Nigerian foreign affairs minister Bolaji Akinyemi has accused military officers of leaking information to Boko Haram as the United States prepared to rescue the 276 Chibok girls kidnapped by the terror group.
Professor Akinyemi who was minster between 1985 -1987 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida said on Arise TV on Tuesday that the US government under President Barrack Obama had come in quietly ready to help President Goodluck Jonathan and his military commanders, but the Boko Haram got wind of the plot. In 2014 Boko Haram sneaked into Chibok town in Borno State and loaded 276 girls from their school hostel sparking an international outrage.
“The Americans had a big experience under President Jonathan. When the Chibok girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, the Americans came in quietly with the support of the Jonathan administration and in collaboration with the Nigerian troops,” Prof Akinyemi said.
“They discovered the camps where the girls were being held and concluded they would throw gas into those camps while Boko Haram were sleeping and would go in with the Nigerian troops to take out the girls. When the Americans sent their reconnaissance aircraft over the camps, the Boko Haram militias were wearing masks, which meant someone within the Nigerian army had leaked to them what the plan and the American pulled out.”
Prof Akinyemi who was speaking against the background of threats by President Donald Trump to roll in his army advised President Bola Tinubu to seek help rather than be antagonistic to the Americans who are willing to fight the terror gangs.