An Army Colonel, some junior officers and soldiers who were taking part in the military offensive to reclaim communities taken over by the Boko Haram terrorists in Adamawa State were said to have been arrested for sabotage.
According to Vanguard newspaper, top military sources said that the colonel (a Muslim) who was commanding a team of three Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC’s, with the capability to fire up to a range of 1.5kilometres or even more, had instead of pursuing the terrorists, deliberately set the APCs on fire between Gulak and Madagali, before running away with his team of soldiers into the bush.
Saturday Vanguard reported that the Army authorities became infuriated over the development and ordered the arrest of the commander, the junior officers as well as the soldiers under his command. A source who was privy to the development noted that until the latest development, the Special Forces of the Nigerian Army who commenced the putsch to rout Boko Haram terrorists from Bazza, Michika, Gulak and Madagali from Vimtim, had successfully dealt with, and inflicted heavy casualties on the terrorists up till Gulak.
It was said that between Gulak and Madagali, the Colonel who had all along been prided with air surveillance reports, was again informed that Boko Haram terrorists were approaching his team in six Toyota Hilux Pick Up vans from the Madagali axis.
Instead of blasting and taking out the terrorists in their pick-up vans; the Colonel ordered his soldiers to jump out of the APC’s and set the armoured tanks on fire, not knowing that he was being monitored. The terrorists were said to be armed with weaponry which were grossly inferior to the firepower of the Nigerian Army Amoured tanks. After accomplishing the sabotage act, the Colonel and the junior officers and soldiers ran away into the bush, claiming that they were overpowered by a better armed group of Boko Haram terrorists.
Vanguard further reported that it was told that a Board of Inquiry, BoI, had been set up by the Army authorities to investigate the Colonel and his soldiers after which a Military Court Martial would be set up to try them for conspiracy, treason and willful sabotage among others.
Photo credit: Vanguard