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.
Source: Punch
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