Available information has it that the United Kingdom, UK, is withholding sensitive information regarding the whereabouts of the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents since April 14, 2014.
Shortly after the UK-based Security in Africa, SIA, group wrote to the British Defence Ministry, through its founder, Ben Oguntala, to seek information on the Chibok girls, the British government disclosed that revealing details of what it found on the location of the abducted girls would clearly damage its relationship with Nigeria and other allies.
The SIA founder told Punch that, “The information was sent on January 30 this year and the UK government has 20 days to comply. They do have a defence of national security and that would prevent them from disclosing the information. Let’s hope they don’t. If they rely on national security defence, we can raise the matter with the Information Commissioner’s office to determine if their claim of national security is reasonable.”
Oguntala, who had in January this year said it was setting up a taskforce to storm Sambisa Forest to release the abducted schoolgirls from captivity, sought to know from the UK government the “results and reports of the British Armed Forces, the details of where they searched and the results of their findings.
“We also seek to have the details of the technology, technique or methodology used in the search and the consequential results.”
The British Ministry of Defence, MOD, which reacted in a letter from its Permanent Joint Headquarters in Middlesex, dated February 25, a copy of which was made available to the newspaper, noted that some of the information requested by Oguntala “falls entirely within the scope of the qualified exemption provided for at section 27 (International Relations) of the FOIA and has been withheld.”
It said, “Section 27 is a qualified exemption and is subject to public interest testing which means that the information requested can only be withheld if the public interest in doing so outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
“Section 27(1)(a), (1)(c) and (2) have been applied because some of the information has the potential to adversely affect relations with our allies. The Public Interest Test concluded that whilst release would increase public understanding and confidence in the relation the United Kingdom has with other international states in its assistance with operations, the balance of the public interest lay in withholding the information you desire.
“We have considered it necessary to apply the higher level of prejudice against release of the exempted information at the higher level of ‘would’ rather than ‘would be likely to’ adversely affect relations with our allies.”
The British defence ministry, which agreed to share details of the “technology, technique or methodology” used in its search, refused to release details of where the UK soldiers searched and the results of their findings.
Oguntala, who claimed not to be daunted by the MOD’s response, pledged that his group would approach the British Prime Minister to “reveal what he can about the Chibok girls.”
His words, “I have had several persons suggesting that I drop the matter and claiming Boko Haram is being used by political players. This information request approach means if the British government declares what it knows; there will be no place for Nigerian political players to hide.”
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