Despite optimism by the Nigerian government that its negotiation with Boko Haram militants will bring about the end of hostilities, intelligence reports in the possession of the military show that the Islamist militant group is plotting deadly attacks across northern Nigeria.
Sahara Reporters was exclusively told by a credible source within the military that Boko Haram militants are planning simultaneous and spontaneous attacks in the Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, and Bauchi states.
The source added that the sect has immense plans to carry out the same pattern of attacks in Kano, Katsina, and Kaduna, and across Plateau, Benue, and Niger states, using several fronts and disguises in order to create monumental instability in Nigeria.
The source, a senior intelligence officer, said intelligence gatherings and movements in and around the north and across neighboring countries suggest that the Nigerian military should take immediate action and be very vigilant in the next few weeks.
The military source said: “I can tell you that despite all these talks, we are in receipt of intelligence reports heralding simultaneous attacks across the north with the aim of bringing the region down at a go.
“They intend to make it wide and to stretch us beyond capacity with deadly attacks across the north; we are in receipt of other details about their fortified capacity and movement across Mali, Niger, Libya, Somalia, Cameroon and Chad axis to get us on all angles.
“Many confessions of those we arrested at different battles zones and entry points into the country corresponded with the intelligence reports at hand.”
The officer said the military, in collaboration with countries in the Lake Chad region, had gone far in the preparation of establishing a multinational force that will come into existence by November, and the military in Nigeria have taken cogent measures to contain the threats unraveled by the intelligence reports.
Sahara Reporters deduced that the military are quite unhappy about this development in view of the much-publicized ceasefire agreement. Several credible sources have openly doubted the authenticity of the sect members purportedly involved in the talks.
Last week, Nigeria’s top military chief, Alex Badeh, declared a ceasefire with the sect over what Hassan Tukur, principal secretary to President Goodluck Jonathan, had said was a result of progress in talks brokered by the President of Chad, Idris Derby.
Since then, there have been reports of Boko Haram attacks and abductions, giving credence to speculation that the government is perhaps negotiation with an insignificant faction of the terrorist group.