The Nigerian Army has attributed the incessant attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-eastern parts of the country to “international conspiracies meant to divide Nigeria and destabilize the peace of the country.”
Acting Director Army Public Relations Colonel Sagir Musa said this ahead of the second edition of a ‘Spiritual Warfare’ seminar to counter Boko Haram propaganda.
In a statement, Sagir said: “The recent killing of our people on a rice farm in Borno State was unexpected, inhuman, cowardly, dastardly and sadistic cruelty by the Boko Haram terrorists.”
“There is no normal human being that will take pleasure in such inhuman massacre of defenceless and armless civilians, working on their farms; but that is the nature of terrorism and those who sponsor it.
“There is an international conspiracy to cut Nigeria to size and compromise national renegades making attempts to destabilise and dismember Nigeria, if possible, in subservience to the international paymasters. These are the owners of Boko Haram. They train them, arm them, finance them and supply their logistics.
“Without this treacherous international support of Boko Haram, they would have since been defeated. Yet, we can defeat them through our unity and unflinching support and encouragement of our security forces, particularly the military,” the army spokesman said.
Mercenaries
And in a related development, the military contractors engaged by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan have vowed not to come to the aid of Nigeria in its fight against insurgency, PR Nigeria reports.
Their position came days after the North-east Governors Forum asked President Muhammadu Buhari to engage the mercenaries in decimating the Boko Harma elements.
Similar call was earlier made by Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum following the massacre of some 43 rice farmers in the state.
Nigeria covertly brought in ‘military-technical advisers’ regarded as mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Regional security, defence and diplomatic sources were aware of the development.
There was also a tacit confirmation by Jonathan that two companies were providing “trainers and technicians” to help Nigerian forces.
Now, calls for the warriors to return, amid the upsurge in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP, are being made.
Last Saturday, more than 40 farmers were slaughtered at Koshebe village, a gruesome murder that sparked global outrage.
Speaking to PRNigeria under the condition of anonymity, one of the facilitators of “soldiers of fortune” bemoaned the humiliations, persecutions and prosecutions of foreign mercenaries along with their Nigerian counterparts who participated in the operation after the emergence of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “In fact, some of our covert operations and activities of operatives in Nigeria including incurred casualties were exposed as working for mercenaries. Imagine that even highly classified and coded transactions for operational purposes were exposed as corruption.”
While noting that some of their payments for operations executed are still outstanding, he said, “It’s easier to confirm what we did because we were able to recover dozens of towns from Boko Haram from at least three states in North-east at the time. This is an open secret.” He expressed regret and disappointment that some Nigerian military and intelligence officers who participated in the operation not only were they retired but prosecuted and convicted.
This, the source said, the mercenaries found difficult to work in a country where their operations, strategy and thinking are exposed to the media and judicial processes.
The secret agent confirmed that top government officials at federal and state levels are reaching out to them but reiterated their resolve not to come back.
Meanwhile, the founder of Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP), Eeben Barlow, revealed that the present administration stopped them from carrying on fighting Boko-Haram terrorists in Nigeria in 2015.
In a post on social media, Barlow said their proposal was antagonised and politicised by Buhari and his team “even before they assumed office.
“The initial 3-phase campaign strategy (known as ‘Operational Anvil’) to degrade and destroy BH in Borno State, was rejected by his advisors.”
Barlow further stated that the company was willing to stay back in the North-east but was warned by the administration that such would not be tolerated under its (government) watch.
