Reaveled: Read Why Soldiers Attacked GOC in Maiduguri

An Acting General Officer Commanding, GOC, has been appointed for the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Borno State. He is Brigadier General M. Y. Ibrahim.

Ibrahim takes over from Major General Ahmed Mohammed who was removed from his position, after being attacked by soldiers under his command in Maiduguri Thursday. This was even as more facts have emerged on why soldiers attacked their former GOC, Maj. Gen. Mohammed.

Director Of Defence Information, DDI, Major General Chris Olukolade, Chief Of Staff, 7 Division, Brig.-Gen. Enobong Udoh and Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Mohammed Dole, had confirmed the removal of Mohammed during a news conference on the attack of GOC. 7 Division.

The DDI, General Olukolade, at the briefing in Maiduguri said: “The GOC has been redeployed based on the decision of the headquarters.”

It was said that the soldiers who attacked Mohammed were grieving over the heavy casualty recorded in the last few days following two incidences of ambush. Those who lost their lives included a Lt Colonel, a Captain and a Leitunant. The first set of soldiers were ambushed at Ganda Musa while the second group encountered theirs at Dalwa area, while returning from Chibok.

Those who were ambushed at Dalwa had sought the approval of the former GOC for them to pass the night in a friendly village following security reports that the route back to their division was unsafe at night but Mohammed reportedly insisted that they should return to the headquarters same night.

According to sources, it was in an attempt to obey the order that the soldiers soldiers were ambushed, with only few of them reportedly surviving the attack. Among those who lost their lives included one Lieutenant who would have wedded in October this year.

The officer (names withheld) was said to have done his traditional marriage and was waiting for church wedding before the tragedy befell him. Among others reportedly killed include a lietunant colonel, a captain and at leitunant.

Military sources also told Saturday Vanguard that earlier, before the latest attack, troops from same Divison had suffered another agonising incident when they lost another set of officers following alleged insensitivity of their Brigade Commander (names withheld).

The said Brigade Commander reportedly ordered the Commanding Officer, CO, in the area to carry out an operation at Ganda Musa, despite objections from the CO that the ill-fated operation required several days of planning.

It was said that the operation later turned disastrous as the soldiers invaded the forest at Ganda Musa without seeing any of the insurgents.

However, on their way back to Adamawa State where they were based, the insurgents reportedly waylaid the troops, inflicting heavy casualties on them.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that some of the survivors later returned to their base in Adamawa, after three days in the bush, while many of them were still to be accounted for.

According to sources, the mutineers were reportedly said to have resolved to attack the former GOC, based on the heavy but aviodable casualties the troops suffered in the two separate operations. Anger fueled their action.

Reacting to the story on telephone yesterday, Maj. General Olukolade said, ‘’I do not know of it. You should be wary of this type of information. It is the duty of a courageous Commander to say his troops should get moving even if they are dying…’’

Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu has said that the Nigerian military will not compromise the nations’ sovereignty following the international support for the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the country.

Amosu spoke with the media shortly after the decoration of 12 newly promoted Air Warrant Officers at NAF headquarters in Abuja yesterday.

Several foreign countries including the United States of America, USA, United Kingdom, China, Israel and France had offered to assist Nigeria unravel the circumstances surrounding the whereabouts of the over 200 female students abducted from Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok by terrorists over 30 days now.

However, Amosu said, “What you have to know first and foremost about multinationals coming to our aid is that it is not strange because nations don’t fight alone again especially against terrorism. You have to fight as a coalition of states.

“But when they come in like that for assistance, we have to put in place, a working arrangement. We are talking of something like a memorandum of understanding.

There will be guidelines. There will be other things that I do not think we should say in the open; it is confidential.

“It is not an arrangement that will compromise our sovereignty. We are still working as a nation and we have made it very clear we will provide the information. If you want extra, you should ask for it, and I think they will be ready to give all.

“During the operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, nations were working together. It is not the first time. We got assistance in terms of information from the West…

“In addition to that, partnerships and alliances bring to you those capabilities that you never had before. It’s cheap and it’s credible. Thank God we are going for it”.

Advising the officers, the CAS further said, “This is a big responsibility we are conferring on you. This is a period of great military challenge to the nation. As the link between the airman cadre and the commissioned officers, we expect you to be tough, courageous and proactive.

“We expect more sacrifices, more dedication from you and there will be rewards. No disrespect to commissioned officers will be accepted.

We will not be reluctant to down grade any of you if we discover you are performing below expectation”. Among the officers decorated are Olagunju Solomon, Abadimu Abayomi, Benjamin Bassey, Okparachi Lawrence, Eze Patrick Ifeanyichukwu, Joshua Barnabas, Jato Mahe, Awana Benson and Shittu Moji Adetunji.