Fresh reports are beginning to emerge as to the whereabouts of firearms and other military ammunitions deployed in Nigeria’s northeastern states to combat terrorism.
It was impeccably gathered that some of this military hardware and firearms sold to the Nigerian government to curb terrorism in insurgents-infested areas ofthe Northeast are being smuggled and resold by soldiers to the terrorists whom they are sent to flush out.
A Brigade Commander of the Nigerian army is among 16 officers and troops being court-martialed for selling arms to Boko Haram terrorists.
He is currently facing a secret trial in the Northeastern Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State over the sudden disappearance of 21 anti-aircraft guns assigned this year to the artillery brigade under his command.
The brigade commander, whose identity could not yet be ascertained, claimed before his arrest that he only received one gun, the Associated Press reported.
Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the theatre commander in northeastern Nigeria, told a news conference last week that Nigerian military authorities have confirmed that some soldiers were selling arms and ammunitions to Boko Haram with which the terrorist sect are using for their nefarious operations, describing the act as “a betrayal of the Nigerian people.”
This admission is coming three weeks after the Nigerian army said a military tribunal is trying 16 officers and soldiers accused of offences related to the fight against Boko Haram, including the theft and sale of ammunition. President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed corruption for the deaths of thousands inthe seven-year Islamic fundamentalist uprising that has killed more than 20,000 citizens of the country.
Children who escaped violent assaults from Boko Haram insurgents are dying ofstarvation in refugee camps in the northeast, where the government is presently investigating the alleged theft of food aid by officers and soldiers left under their care.
In addition, a slew of retired and current military officers are being investigated for diverting hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted to help curb the Islamic uprising.
Among them is Alex Badeh, a four-star general whom Buhari fired from his post as chief of defense staff.
Witnesses have told a Federal High Court that Badeh stole the equivalent of $24 million budgeted for salaries in 2013 andbuilt a shopping mall in Abuja, the Nigeria’s capital.
Before Buhari took power, soldiers told the AP they were forced into battle with just 30 bullets each and no food rations.
They said Boko Haram was better armed and that their officers were stealing partsof their salaries and allowances.
Many ran away when the extremists attacked, allowing Boko Haram to take control of a large swath of northeastern Nigeria in 2014.Under Buhari, a former military leader, a multinational force has retaken most towns but Boko Haram continues to carry out occasional hit-and-run attacks, leaving behind a number of casualties.
