RECENT reports from US intelligence
sources have revealed that Nigerian
military commanders leaked plans to
rescue the abducted Chibok girls to Boko
Haram terrorists which ended up botching
the operation.
sources have revealed that Nigerian
military commanders leaked plans to
rescue the abducted Chibok girls to Boko
Haram terrorists which ended up botching
the operation.
On April 14, over 200 pupils were abducted from Government Girls
Secondary School Chibok in Borno State,sparking an international outrage. In
response to the global outcry, the US sent spy planes to Nigeria to help locate the
girls and a plan was agreed with the military to mount a daring rescue
operation.
However, according to two US Army generals, details of the rescue mission
was leaked to Boko Haram before it could be put into operation, enabling the
terrorists to take preventative action. Accusing the Nigerian Army of treason,
the generals revealed that that the war against Boko Haram was purposefully
sabotaged by the Nigerian government, as if it would not, defeating the terrorists
would not have taken longer than a month.
US sources pulled out from helping Nigeria rescue the missing Chibok girls
after Washington discovered that Boko Haram had been fed the details of a
covert rescue mission that would involve using gas. Source said that as soon as
the Americans arrived and flew surveillance flights over Nigeria, they
located the girls and proposed gassing the areas in the Sambisa Forest and then
sending in a raid mission to rescue the girls while their terrorist captors were
paralysed asleep.
However, shortly after Nigeria’s security chiefs were given this plan in high
confidence, its details were leaked to Boko Haram who promptly acted to foil the plot.
On its next surveillance flight over the area, the US team saw the Boko Haram
terrorists all wearing gas masks.
US agents were very disappointed with this and immediately afterwards,
Washington announced that it will no longer share information with Nigeria.
This was one of the major reasons why the US gave up on a mission of working
with the Jonathan government and eventually pulled out of the fight against
Boko Haram.
According to military sources, it was this betrayal that led to Washington
sanctioning Nigeria and preventing her from purchasing security equipment
because the US is not convinced of the sincerity of the Jonathan government.
Since the episode, the US has refused to sell Nigeria military hardware amid fears
that it may end up in the hands of Boko Haram, although the official reason given
was the human rights record of the Nigerian Army.
Since it began its operations in 2009, Boko Haram has always managed to
infiltrate the Nigerian security forces where it has as lot of supporters and
sympathisers. Terrorist cells are regularly tipped off about military missions and
have subsequently been able to lie in ambush for Nigerian soldiers.
Of late, however, Boko Haram has been on the back foot since the establishment
of the regional Multi National Joint Task Force. Because the task force is made up
of regional neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic, Boko Haram has
been unable to infiltrate it, as their troops have not been compromised.
