A Brigade Commander is among
16 officers and troops being
court martialed for selling arms
to Boko Haram terrorists.He is
facing a secret trial in
Maiduguri, capital of Borno
State over what happened to 21
anti-aircraft guns assigned this
year to his artillery brigade.
The brigade commander, not
yet identified, 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
military authorities have
confirmed that some soldiers
were selling arms and
ammunition to Boko Haram.He
called it a betrayal of the
Nigerian people. He gave no
more details.
The admission comes three
weeks after the Nigerian army
said a military tribunal is trying
16 officers and troops 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 in the
seven-year Islamic uprising that
has killed more than 20,000.
Children who escaped Boko
Haram are dying of starvation in
refugee camps in the northeast,
where the government is
investigating the alleged theft of
food aid.
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
and built a shopping mall in
Abuja, the 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 parts of
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment