Shake-up looms in the military over Borno attack

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Clik here to view.A massive shake-up looms in the country’s military following last Monday’s surprise attack by hundreds of Boko Haram members in Maiduguri which destroyed three airplanes belonging to the Nigerian Air Force.
The shake-up, which will affect both the top hierarchy and the rank and file would possibly lead to the removal of some service chiefs for what military sources described as “ineptitude” and ‘inability to pre-empt and checkmate the onslaught’ by the members of the terrorist group known as Boko Haram.
While some may be retired, others may be redeployed or Court Marshaled to determine their level of culpability in the attack. It was gathered last night that the Air Force is top on the list given the fact that they were caught napping when the dreaded terrorists struck.
In a large scale coordinated dawn attack, eyewitnesses said that about 700 hundred Boko Haram members attacked several areas of the city of Maiduguri even after planting bombs that destroyed airplanes belonging to Nigeria’s military prompting a 24-hour curfew to be imposed in the Borno state capital.
Ministry of Defence spokesman, Brig Gen Chris Olukolade was to later disclose in a statement that two helicopters and three decommissioned military aircrafts had been “incapacitated” during the attack which had been repelled.
The embarrassment engendered by the development, according to presidency sources made President Goodluck Jonathan to summon the country’s service chiefs and heads of relevant services to an emergency closed door meeting Monday night. At the meeting the President was said to have been very miffed with the chiefs, especially the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh who has long been seen in top military circles as “not really on top of the anti-insurgency war in the North-East geopolitical zone.”
Jonathan was also said to have directed the military chiefs to immediately device strategies to curtail any further attack and contain the insurgents “or ship out” as his administration and indeed Africa, is embarrassed by the “almost lack of adequate response to the Boko Haram attacks”, especially from the Air Force.
Enumerating how government has heeded the advice of the military chiefs in the past, another presidency source disclosed that “they asked for the JTF, Mr. President agreed and approved. They advised for curfew, Mr. President agreed and approved. They asked for communication restrictions, Mr. President agreed and approved. But last Monday we were caught napping. No coordinated intelligence work. Even the Air Force that is supposed to conduct needed surveillance for the ground troops has been failing. So who can blame the President for all he told the military chiefs at that meeting?”
Though after the Monday meeting that ended in the wee hours of Tuesday, no official statement has come from the presidency, it was learnt that service chiefs of affected services that were seen to have shirked their responsibilities may face some sack.
“But that will depend on the report of a presidential panel probing the Monday attack,” said one source who added that it will be interesting to Nigerians to know that contrary to reports that the three aircrafts destroyed by Boko Haram members were decommissioned, they were in sound condition before the attack.
Meanwhile, the Joint Investigation Team inaugurated in July this year by the Defence Headquarters to screen arrested terrorists’ suspects has recommended more than 500 persons for trial in law courts on terrorist related offences.
Those indicted and recommended for immediate trial were apprehended in the course of security operations against terrorists in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States.
A statement signed by Olukolade disclosed that the team handed its recommendation to the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim who forwarded it to the Presidency through the office of National Security Adviser, NSA.
About 1,400 terrorist suspects detained by the military were screened by the team at the detention facilities in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu between July and September this year.
Those recommended for immediate trial include high profile suspects some of whom were training other terrorists in weapon handling as well as those who confessed to being trained in Mali and other countries for the purpose of perpetrating terror in Nigeria.
Also “among those recommended for trial are a Medical Doctor, paramilitary or service personnel who were fighting on the side of the terrorists and other individuals who offered direct logistics support to the terrorists.”
The team however recommended the release of 167 of the detainees from detention in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu. About 614 others whose cases were inconclusive have been recommended for review.
The report also proposed that some of the detainees be tried for other offences ranging from armed robbery, murder to drugs related offences. If the recommendations are approved, the trial of some of the suspects will be held in the states while others may be tried at the Federal level by High Courts.