REVEALED: You Need To Read The Reason Why NIGERIAN TROOPS Fled To CAMEROON
A junior officer, who acted as proxy of the soldiers, told the French news agency, AFP, that his colleagues who spoke with him from Cameroon claimed that they fled after running out of ammunition.
He added that the soldiers also spoke of the troops facing well-armed Boko Haram fighters.
AFP said the officer insisted on anonymity since he was not authorised to speak.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in a report quoting Cameroon’s Army spokesman, Didier Badjek, had on Monday said Nigerian troops fled but the DHQ denied the claim, saying the soldiers strayed into Cameroon in a “tactical manoeuvre”
On Wednesday, AFP quoted one Basuma Muhammed, a resident of Gamboru-Ngala, a border town with Cameroon in Borno State, as saying that soldiers joined hundreds of civilians who fled into Cameroon.
Initially, the soldiers were able to repel an attack by the Boko Haram, killing many of their fighters, Muhammed said, adding: “But hours after the attack, a bigger number of the Boko Haram gunmen arrived from the other side of the town and engaged the soldiers who could not stand their superior force and had to join us in running into Cameroon”.
But the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in a statement in Abuja said the soldiers had performed a “tactical manoeuvre” when they found themselves in Cameroon.
The soldiers are back, the DHQ said on Wednesday, adding that they are in “high spirits with all their weapons and equipment intact”.
It emerged, however, that the military has begun the probe of the soldiers’ action.
On its twitter handle, the DHQ said: “The Defence Headquarters has confirmed that troops who returned from Cameroon were today addressed by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Division, Maj.-Gen. Zaruwa as they embark on another mission in the Counter Terrorism campaign.
“All the soldiers are in high spirits with all their weapons and equipment intact.”
It was gathered on Wednesday from a top military source that the soldiers traversed Nigeria-Cameroon borders throughout the night and arrived in Mubi, Adamawa State, at about midday.
The source said: “The soldiers have arrived safely in Mubi. Preliminary findings confirmed that they were all hale and hearty. There was no evidence of being hurt.
“The Nigerian Army has however started the process of debriefing the soldiers as part of the ongoing probe of how they crossed into Cameroon.
“The debriefing will involve their commander and other ranks to know what transpired between them and Boko Haram insurgents.
“This is a normal military tradition in order to guide military authorities on the next step.”
Responding to a question, the highly placed source said: “The military is weighing options on whether to reintegrate these soldiers into their battalion or unit or allow the outcome of the debriefing to determine their fate.
“The military is being careful in managing the situation to avoid any decision which could lead to spiral effect in the Army.
“It is too early to judge the soldiers as guilty or not. A team is handling the debriefing of the 480 soldiers.”
Another source said: “The soldiers meandered through the volatile security challenges from Cameroon to Mubi. If you are familiar with the route, Mubi, Michika and Madagali are along the same axis.
“But each of the towns has border links with Cameroon making them vulnerable to attacks by Boko Haram.”
Another report later on Wednesday quoted Cameroon as saying its military has killed 27 suspected Boko Haram insurgents who attacked areas where the 480 Nigerian troops had crossed over during a battle with the insurgents.
Cameroon’s state radio reported that government troops beat back two attempts by suspected Boko Haram militants to enter the country’s northern territory through a locality that shares a boundary with Nigeria’s Borno State, stronghold of the group.
The radio said during a confrontation on Tuesday, the soldiers killed 11 insurgents while 16 more were killed in an earlier attack on Monday.
Cameroonian soldiers seized heavy weapons and destroyed one of the vehicles the insurgents were using.
After the attacks, the radio announced that the country’s President, Paul Biya, ordered that the Nigerian soldiers be escorted back to their country.
“The Head of State has instructed that the columns of Nigerian soldiers who entered Cameroonian territory should be camped in specific locations and supervised by the Cameroonian army.
“The Nigerian soldiers have been provided feeding, medical treatment and fuel on instructions of the Head of State. At the same time the process of accompanying the Nigerian soldiers back to their country is under way under Cameroonian military escort,” the state radio quoted an unnamed source as saying on Wednesday.
Col. Didier Badjeck, a Cameroon military spokesman, told VOA that allegations made in Cameroonian media that the incidence was a defection were unfounded, but added that they were particularly careful over the presence of the Nigerian soldiers as Boko Haram militants could also disguise as a regular army and attack them.
In a related development, the DHQ on Wednesday assured that troops will soon re-capture Gwoza and its surrounding communities in Borno State being paraded by Boko Haram as its caliphate.
Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, stated: “We are definitely working to reverse all those tendencies. We are not conceding any portion of this country to a group of terrorists and the required operation to reverse that is ongoing.
“The Army will re-assert in a short while the sovereignty of any part of the country that has been violated illegally by some irresponsible elements.
“We are working to ensure that not just Gwoza as a town, its surroundings and other portions that terrorists seem to be moving around is secured.”
He further assured Nigerians “that we are sure we will accomplish in a short while”
Olukolade stated this in a telephone interview monitored on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, had claimed in a video footage at the weekend that his men had seized the town and established an Islamic caliphate there.
Olukolade also addressed the issue of equipment and affirmed that the military has been receiving upgraded weapons but that the troops need to upgrade their response.
“On a regular basis we require and we are sure we will get the regular upgrading that is required to conduct this operation properly.
“We are encouraged that the political authorities and Nigerians have appreciated the need for the military to be properly equipped to handle this operation,” Olukolade added.
On the international support being received by the Nigerian military, especially on the efforts to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls, Olukolade said: “Help received is improving, most importantly is the understanding we enjoy both from our allies in the neighbourhood as well as those who have come from other countries to assist us.
“In many instances we exchange ideas, we are exchanging intelligence and much of the cooperation we continue to get and we believe it will keep improving until our situation for as far as our situation is understood,” he explained.
culled from Daily Independent
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