Army arrests 6 Senior Officers for escaping from Boko Haram

Six military commanders, including an injured Lieutenant Colonel, have been arrested by the military for withdrawing from Mararaba, Michika, Madagali, Mubi and later Vimtim when Boko Haram insurgents attacked the communities last week.

It was learnt that an unspecified number of soldiers were also in detention for allegedly abandoning some of the communities, thereby making easy for the insurgents to have an upper hand.

A reliable military source, who made this known in Abuja on Sunday said the movement of five of the commanders had been restricted to the officers mess in a military formation.

The source, who did not name the military formation because of security reason, added that “one of them, a Leutenant Colonel is receiving treatment at the MRS in Yola for serious injuries he sustained when the car in which he was escaping with somersaulted several times.”

He said the injured officer would join his colleagues in the officers mess on recovery.

Our source said, “Today (Sunday), the military authorities arrested five commanders around the Mubi axis of Adamawa State. The sixth is a Lt. Col.

“Some of those arrested were at Mararaba, Madagali, Michika and other locations. I think the military leaders are saying that the soldiers did not resist the Boko Haram when they invaded the place.”

Our source explained that the Defence authorities had already commenced investigations into the activities of all its personnel in relation with the capture of Mubi, the second largest town in Adamawa State and other supposedly “fortified locations,” including Vimtim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.

The insurgents had reportedly burnt Badeh’s residence, a clinic and a civic centre in the community.

The source explained that the military authorities were determined to find out why the Boko Haram’s advance in the state was not resisted by the troops.

He said the military chiefs were of the opinion that the “tactical withdrawal” of the soldiers from their positions was nothing but a “display of indiscipline and cowardice which would not be tolerated.”

Punch gathered that it was the military authority’s conviction that enough weapons and men were deployed in Mubi and other locations to frustrate the any attack by the insurgents.

When contacted on the issue, the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, said, “Anyone found to have undermined the ongoing operation will face appropriate sanctions and this is well known to all military personnel.”