He told Jonathan it was to boost military’s credibility— SOURCE

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

ABUJA—The Presidency has reportedly softened its stance over revelations by Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, that the military had located the over 200 schoolgirls taken from their school in Chibok, Borno State.

Badeh, who made the claim last Monday, reportedly incurred the wrath of the President over the matter, which was viewed as a breach capable of hindering the recovery of the children from their abductors.

However, competent sources told Vanguard last night that the CDS had taken time to brief President Jonathan on why it was necessary for the Nigerian military to make the announcement before other countries to give the assurance that it was capable of tackling the rising wave of insurgency.

The source said: “If the Americans had made the breakthrough, it would have been the end of the Nigerian Military and the President, as Commander-in-Chief, knows that he must show and have confidence in the capacity and competence of his troops.”

Counter moves to boost morale
According to the source, the administration had been battling all kinds of rumours aimed at discrediting and creating confusion within the rank and file of the military.
The source said: “Last week, there was a report of a second mutiny in the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri. It took vigorous counter moves before those behind the falsehood gave up.

“The President is aware that Badeh, as the number one military officer, owes it to the officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces to defend their professionalism, which of late has been subjected to serious questioning.
“As you know, there had been doubts about the competence of the Nigerian Armed Forces and unproven allegations of corruption by a section of the Nigerian public and countries like the United States.
“Badeh had to do what he did, without giving away anything.”

According to findings, it was due to the explanations made by Badeh that the Presidency authorised one of his senior media aides, Doyin Okupe, to make further claims that the military had sighted the missing girls.
Okupe, in the CNN interview monitored in Abuja, said the girls had been located but did not say where they were.

US anger
This came on the heels of new development that the Americans, which are providing air surveillance and logistics support, were angered by the revelation made by Badeh as they would prefer to bring out the girls before making any statement.

The source further said that the President was not unmindful of the effect of the positive development on the morale of the Nigerian military.