Vanguard Newspaper, today, reported that 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, have been arrested for sabotage. 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. The paper said Army authorities were outraged over the development and ordered the arrest of both the commander, the junior officers as well as the soldiers under his command. Narrating how the “embarrassing incident occurred,” a source who was privy to the development noted that until the latest development, the Special Forces of the Nigerian Army who commenced the effort 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.
“However, rather than blasting and taking out the terrorists in their pick-up vans, he ordered his soldiers to jump out of the APC’s and set the armoured tanks on fire, without realising that he was being monitored. “This was shocking because the terrorists were 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”, Saturday Vanguard was told.
Military sources said that the action of the Colonel and soldiers under his command had given vent to the disclosure by the top hierarchy of the military that there were so many fifth columnists in the military working against the country’s determination to flush out Boko Haram terrorists in the land.
VANGUARD
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