Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai
Indications are that Boko Haram has infiltrated the Nigerian Army as it emerged the force is holding two officers – a major and a captain – in connection with alleged sabotage of the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the North-East.
Checkpointcharley has been told that the Army is digging into the activities of some of its officers following the Boko Haram attack on troops’ location in Gashigar on 22 October 2016.
Recall that the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, had said, in a statement last weekend, that 13 soldiers were wounded due to a Boko Haram ambush on troops at Gashigar and that some soldiers were missing. But he failed to give the exact number of the soldiers unaccounted for.
Both President Mohammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai were not amused about the incident. This made the Army authorities to probe into what went wrong. It is gathered that the telephone conversation of some of the security personnel and their civilian counterparts were scrutinized and it revealed suspicious activities.
One military source told the Punch that the Army was intensifying investigation to unravel two established cases against the arrested suspects. They bothered on leakage of information on troops’ movement to the insurgents and the raising of funds to finance Boko Haram operations through cattle rustling.
The source said, “The President was furious and discussed the matter with the COAS when some of the heads of that units were ambushed by the Boko Haram.
“The Army leadership took out time to screen the communications lines of the officers for several days without making it known.
“The suspicion was that they have links with some civilians and the links were traced. They are giving them vital information concerning the movement of soldiers.
“How come that the Borno State Governor and other officials have not been attacked, yet they ambushed the Chief of Army Staff. They have not attacked civilians but they attacked the COAS.”
The Acting Army spokesman has confirmed that investigation into the matter was ongoing.
Usman however said the Army would not release information on the matter due to the fact that a planned rescue operation in the area is on the table.
He said, “Investigation is ongoing and once we conclude, the suspects would be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction.”
Usman further denied reports that 83 soldiers were missing in action and insisted that the military did not lose any soldier as a result of the Gashigar attack.
The military suspects would be subject to military laws in accordance with the law, he stated
The Army spokesman had on Tuesday said in a statement that 32 persons, including two military officers, two soldiers, two policemen and 26 civilians were in custody for allegedly sabotaging military operations against Boko Haram in the North East.
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