Nigeria shuts aid group offices

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - The Nigerian Army on Thursday closed volunteer group Action Against Hunger's (AAH) regional office, accusing it collaborating with terrorist groups including Boko Haram.

Army Spokesman Sagir Musa said the organization had been warned several times and that it was "aiding and abetting terrorists" by supplying them food and drugs.

"The AAH has been declared persona non grata for aiding Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State West Africa by supplying them food and drugs despite warning," he said.

Soldiers were seen sealing the AAH’s main office in northeast Maiduguri, the heartland of Boko Haram, on Thursday morning. Its other offices in Damaturu, a city affected by violence in the northwest Jigawa province, were also shut down, officials of the organization told Anadolu Agency.

The army has maintained that some international organizations working in the northeast were undermining counter-terrorism operations launched by the Nigerian forces.

"The subversive actions of the NGO [non-governmental organization] AAH persisted despite several warnings to desist from aiding and abetting terrorists and their atrocities," said Must.

He said "several credible intelligence inputs" obtained by the army indicated that the group operating in the northeast, was "supplying food and drugs to criminals in the area."

The organization is yet to react to the incident. Anadolu Agency in Maiduguri could not reach AAH offices or phones.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and over two million forced to flee their homes in the decade-long insurgency in Nigeria.