•Security agencies work at cross purposes
•Sudanese, Chadians, other foreigners among Boko Haram
•They are now more sophisticated than before
•85 soldiers detained for refusing deployment to Metele
•How President Buhari can help

By Our Reporter

In this concluding part of the conversation with a surviving soldier in the recent attack on Nigerian Army 154 Task Force by Boko Haram insurgents which resulted in the death of many soldiers, he told Vanguard that the awareness that Nigerian troops lacked functional equipment was responsible for the manner the insurgents attacked in succession. He lamented that the situation has not changed.

Nigerian troops rallied to flush out Boko Haram rag tag forces in Guzamala

Troops repel attacks by insurgents disguised as aid workers

The soldier, who pleaded anonymity, also said the Army and the Air force were working at cross purposes.

He raised the alarm that the terrorists were closing in on Maiduguri as a result of what he described as poor location of bases.

Specifically, he said the insurgents a few days ago, dislodged an army base in Cross Kukawa which is close to Monguno, adding that troops coming for reinforcement were blocked by the terrorists.

Consequently, he noted that only an aerial battle would degrade the insurgents given the terrain of the area, urging the Nigerian government to work in that direction alongside Cameroonian, Chadian and Nigerien governments.

In addition, the soldier said the Boko Haram fighters as presently constituted are no longer ragtag insurgents but international terrorists with three sets of fighters.

Continuing, he said the terrorists comprised mostly of foreigners and a few Nigerians of Kanuri extraction.

Cross close to Monguno

His words:”They have dislodged Cross which is close to Monguno. They attacked Mailari close to Monguno and they blocked people who were coming for reinforcement. The moment they take Moguno they could take Maiduguri.

“They don’t take advice, and they don’t consult those, who understand the terrain. They just sit and make decisions,” he said of the Nigerian authorities.

“The soldiers are weak because their morale is low. Water point at Metele before the attack that took place on November 18 was destroyed.

Boko Haram destroyed the water point, if I am telling lies why did they ask soldiers to move to Marite to fetch water.

No water to drink, bath

“For a week soldiers could not get water to take their bath and drink. Even the bodies of 18 soldiers, who died in that first attack have not been recovered. We were just sent to the field to die but whenever the head of the army is coming, no fewer than    13 or 14 Amoured Personnel Carriers, APCs and Seven MRA are made available to protect him. But we are unprotected in the desert. The APCs we have are about five and they are unserviceable. Several APC’s accompany him with about 120 soldiers, who provide security. The same place he goes with many soldiers is where we go to alone without adequate protection.

“There is conspiracy everywhere. The Air force blames the army, while the Army doesn’t even give credit to the Air force whenever it is talking about achievements. Each always goes for individual glory.    Any time we call to inform them about an imminent enemy attack, the Air force will tell us that the visibility is not clear. Even when they come,    they claim that they cannot differentiate between friendly forces and enemy forces. Sometimes they complain of not having fuel.        How can you fly from Maiduguri to a point where an attack is ongoing, instead of firing missiles, you will say there is no fuel and the next thing will  return to base.    It has happened several times. It even happened in Chingugu attack

Procurement Officer

“The equipment being used are outdated equipment. They were bought before now.    Most of the things we are using are the weapons they bought in the past administrations although they are outdated. They have not equipped us better than we were. They could investigate this. I get angry when some of our leaders talk. They say things that don’t befit their ranks in the military.    My question is: Did they go to the War College to watch movies? What is the difference between our senior officers and US senior officers, who prosecute national assignments diligently? The Metele camp was not well located. The enemies had an advantage over us.      The whole of that axis is a rebel axis, the camp has no parakeet

“When the first attack happened in Metele many soldiers died and many are still missing. At the time the then Theatre Commander asked soldiers to form a commando bed camp ahead. How do you form a commando bed camp without the required fighting equipment?

“That was a technical way to give him and a few commandos around protection. But the moment they heard gunshots they ran away.

Later, they consulted an engineering team that brought Constantan wires, barb wire and fenced the place but it had only one entrance.

Detained soldiers

“We have 75 or 80 soldiers