by IG Wala
On the 21st of January 2015, there was a leaked document (Letter) which emanated from Force High Command (Security Operatives) in Maiduguri, calling on the attention of Higher Authorities (The Chief Security Officer of the State) and The Commander, HQ 7 Div Garrison, Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, informing them about the intended plans by Boko Haram Insurgents to overrun Monguno and Maiduguri.
This document was circulated into the hands of top individuals within the Borno State Government. Categorically speaking, the document was made public on social media and it was widely circulated. This information is no more news breaking because, top Military Officers had confirmed to Premium Times that the Military got reliable intelligence report prior to the attack. One may wonder what could have hindered the Military from taking proper measures to quell the attack. According to the troops, the reasons behind the poor outing of the Military as reported by Premium Times: “We could have overpowered the insurgents, but there was no enough ammunition,” an officer, who participated in the battle, told PREMIUM TIMES. But when contacted Monday, the Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, dismissed the suggestion that the military did not prepare enough for the attack despite knowing days before that it was coming.
“Because it is an area that is prone to attacks, our officers and men are always on the alert,” Mr. Olukolade said.
All these are series of lame excuses and grand plan to cover the real story. For those of us that got the document on the 21st of January, even though the document in circulation did not expose the part where the dates of attack to be carried out, because the document was tore into 3 parts just to hide some information that could reveal the source of the leakage (see copies attached). However, Premium Times made it clear: “Reliable military sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the Brigade received report indicating the insurgents would attack between January 22 and 25.”
Sadly, the attack took place despite the warnings and Monguno was captured by Boko Haram! What could have allowed the military to make such serious mistake and who was responsible for such negligence if not the VISIT OF PRESIDENT JONATHAN on the 24th January, 2015.
Reliably, the Defence Hqt. in Abuja directed the deployment of all their men to form a parameter to protect Mr. President who was in Maiduguri for his political campaign on Saturday 24th January 2015. Similar official orders were given to the Police by the Inspector General of Police, which prompted the deployment of 15,000 Policemen to guard the President during his hours of political rally in Maiduguri. Under such situation, the preparation to face the Boko Haram insurgents suffered! At the same time created room for laxity which prompted the advancement of the Boko Haram militants toward their targets. This act of gross negligence and unpatriotic behavior of the present political leadership against the citizens can substantiate to the number of petitions which reveal the poor position of President Jonathan on the fight against terror. If truly Mr. President has always being on top of the situation like he always assert, he should have been in the knowledge of the threat to attack within the days of his visit. Does he care about the people in the manner he cared about his campaign?
It appears that there are certain individuals within the Military that are planted to ensure that every blunder if committed in honor or favor of the Presidency should be ignored. For just the campaign visit of Mr. President, the entire Security formation in a war zone was dismantled and the consequences of such selfish action resulted to death of multiple Soldiers, civilians, rendered 8,000 homeless and made several women and children to be widows and orphans respectably, without a single officer being sanctioned? We must be joking!
It is true that monumental corruption is continuously eating up the fabric of the Nigeria Military. Some few officers at the top have hijacked the power and are holding up the President to ransom. These could be same officers that are blackmailing the Governors in the North Eastern states. It may interest you to know that Governor Shettima of Borno on several occasions, was blackmailed into succumbing to the demands of some officers from the Defence Hqrt. It was under such demands that the Governor was forced to pay N800 Million in the name of procurement of 100 brand new Toyota Hilux, which he was directed to a specific company for the purchase and was also compelled to send another N40Million to enable them paint the vehicles with Military color.
Since the beginning of the crisis to date, between the Military and the Police, Governor Shettima was cajoled and blackmailed into the procurement of over 400 of such vehicles. The funniest part of it, the Military had never on any occasion approached him to inspect the procured vehicles or distribution of such vehicles. This is to tell you that there has never being any acknowledgement of receipt for such donation or contribution from the Defence Hqtrs. The biggest question at the moment is, on what ground or arrangement is the procurement of this vehicles by the State Governor? What happened to the huge Security budget which was clearly mentioned that Military supplies, arms, tankers, vehicles are all part of it? Are we sure that some individuals are not collecting double ratio (from FG & SG) and diverting one into personal consumption? If this is what a single State among the rest of the states is going through, what may be happening silently in the rest of the troubled States?
It is important we all know that the day to day running of these vehicles are not done by the Defence Hqrtrs. In terms of fueling of all Security Vehicles in Borno State, there is a filling station and standing order to all other filling stations dedicated for them. The maintenance are also carried out by the Government of Borno State. The Governor also made it a responsibility to give each family of any Fallen hero the sum of N1 Million, only God knows if this amount reaches the benefactor.
Why are we looking out for the sponsors of this crisis, when the beneficiaries are hidden within the system that claimed to be fighting it?
Originally posted on faceBook
