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| COAS, Kenneth Minimah |
Six military commanders, including an injured
Lieutenant Colonel, have been arrested by the military for withdrawing from
Mararaba, Michika, Madagali, Mubi and later Vimtim when Boko Haram insurgents
attacked the communities last week.
It was learnt that an unspecified
number of soldiers were also in detention for allegedly abandoning the
communities, thereby making it easy for the insurgents to have an upper hand.
A reliable military source, who made this known
in Abuja on Sunday, said the movement of five of the commanders had been
restricted to the officers mess in a military formation.
The source, who did not name the military
formation, because of security reason, added that “one of them, a Leutenant
Colonel is receiving treatment at the MRS in Yola for
serious injuries he sustained when the car in which he was escaping with
somersaulted several times.”
He said the injured officer would
join his colleagues in the officers mess on recovery.
Our source said, “Today (Sunday), the military
authorities arrested five commanders around the Mubi axis of
Adamawa State. The sixth is a Lt. Col.
“Some of those arrested were at Mararaba,
Madagali, Michika and other locations. I think the military leaders are saying
that the soldiers did not resist the Boko Haram when they invaded the place.”
Our source explained that the Defence authorities
had already commenced investigations into the activities of all its personnel
in relation with the capture of Mubi, the second largest town in Adamawa State
and other supposedly “fortified locations,” including Vimtim, the home town of
the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.
The insurgents had reportedly burnt Badeh’s
residence, a clinic and a civic centre in the community on Thursday.
The source explained that the military
authorities were determined to find out why the Boko Haram’s advance in the
state was not resisted by the troops.
He said the military
chiefs were of the opinion that the “tactical withdrawal” of the
soldiers from their positions was nothing but a “display of
indiscipline and cowardice which would not be tolerated.”
Our correspondents gathered that it was the
military authority’s conviction that enough weapons and men were deployed in
Mubi and other locations to frustrate the any attack by the insurgents.
On Thursday, the Minister of Defence, Lt.Gen.
Aliyu Gusau; the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and the
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Kenneth Minimah, declined to speak with
journalists on issues relating to the capture of Mubi and the other communities
by the insurgents.
When contacted on the issue, the
Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, said, “Anyone found
to have undermined the ongoing operation will face appropriate sanctions and
this is well known to all military personnel.”
Another source, who confided in one of our
correspondents, said soldiers had a grueling encounter on Sunday with
insurgents at Bladeba about one and half kilometers from Mubi.
He said the soldiers were able to
take over some of the checkpoints captured by the insurgents.
It was also learnt that some of the
insurgents in control of Mubi were moving towards Hildi
to avoid aerial bombardments.
Punch
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