Nigeria has been infiltrated by Al-Qaeda:National Security Adviser Sambo dasuki

The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki, (retd.) has said that international
terror organisation, Al Qaeda, has made
inroads into Nigeria’s security system.
Dasuki however said that the country was
responding effectively to the threat of
terrorism through the making of relevant
laws and policies to destroy the terror
networks in the country.
The NSA’s comment was contained in a
keynote address read on his behalf by
Ambassador Layiwola Laseinde, who
represented him at a one-week Strategic
Communications Plan workshop for counter-
insurgency organised by the National Defence
College, Abuja on Monday.
The event declared open by the Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mr. Aliyu
Ismaila, who represented the Supervising
Minister of Defence, Labaran Maku, was
organised in collaboration with the United
States Department of State’s Centre for
Strategic Counter-Terrorism Communication,
the British Ministry of Defence, and Albany
Communications.
Dasuki said that the country had come to the
realisation that military action alone would
not suffice in the
campaign against terrorism. He stressed
that an enlightenment campaign was a
necessity in the quest to defeat
fundamentalists’ ideologies and terrorists’
tendencies.
Dasuki said that the need to build a
consensus against violent acts of terror
remained one of the reasons strategic
communications was included in the
nation’s counter-terrorism operations.
He said, “Global terror, championed by Al-
Qaeda, has encroached upon the frontiers
of Nigeria’s security and well-being.
Nigeria is responding to this threat on all
fronts.
“Through new and relevant legislations
and policies, security agencies have
continued to dismantle terrorists’
infrastructure in Nigeria.
“Nigeria realises that military action on its
own will not counter terror if not
accompanied by a robust public diplomacy
aimed at defeating the ideology of hate
and building consensus against violent
extremism.
“This is why strategic communication is an
essential part of our counter-terrorism
operations…”
Dasuki said that strategic communication
in the country would enhance the
exposure of the true intent and form of
government “that the Al Qaeda-modelled
Boko Haram seeks to impose.”
He said that the strategic communication
strategy would also strive to place
emphasis on the fact that terrorism was
un-Islamic and that counter-terrorism was
not targeted at Islam.
Dasuki said that efforts would be made to
improve Muslim-Christian relations and
promote the rate of literacy in the North
as the fundamentalists were exploiting
mass illiteracy in the area.
The NSA stressed that the Federal
Government would promote inter-party
collaboration in counter-terrorism so that
all stakeholders would contribute to the
efforts designed to provide safety and
security in the society.