Nigeria’s Special Forces from the Army’s 7th Division have sighted and narrowed the search for the more than 250 abducted Chibok schoolgirls to three camps operated by the extremist Boko Haram sect north of Kukawa at the western corridors of the Lake Chad, senior military and administration officials have said.
“It has been a most difficult but heroic breakthrough,” one senior military official said in Abuja.
The claim was supported by another senior commander from the Army’s 7th Division, the military formation created to deal with the insurgency in the Northeast. The 7th Division is headquartered in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The breakthrough comes at a critical moment for the Nigerian military that has faced cutting criticism over its handling of the kidnapping of the girls more than a month ago.
The news is also key for the Maiduguri-based 7th Division a week after a humiliating mutiny by troops of its 101 battalion who fired at the General Officer Commanding the division, Ahmadu Mohammed, a Major General.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed escaped unhurt, but has since been redeployed. The soldiers blamed him for the deaths of at least four of their colleagues killed near Chibok, a remote community in Borno State where the girls were taken captives April 14.
But military insiders said Mr. Mohammed was targeted for daring to arrest the growing indiscipline within his troop.
The abductions have sparked international outrage, with the United States, United Kingdom, France and Israel, providing intelligence and surveillance assistance.
Nigerian military officials coordinating the search and other officials in Abuja said Boko Haram insurgents split the girls into batches and held them at their camps in Madayi, Dogon Chuku and Meri, all around the Sector 3 operational division of the Nigerian military detachment confronting the group’s deadly campaign.
Another source said there is a fourth camp at Kangarwa, also in Borno State. That claim could not be independently verified.
“Our team first sighted the girls on April 26 and we have been following their movement with the terrorists ever since,” one of our sources said.
“That’s why we just shake our heads when people insinuate that the military is lethargic in the search for the girls.”
The location of the abducted girls – north east of Kukawa – opens a new insight into the logistic orientation of Boko Haram, responsible for thousands of deaths in a five-year long insurgency. President Goodluck Jonathan said the group has killed at least 12,000 people so far – that’s minus the hundreds killed in a car bomb on Tuesday in Jos and the about 10 murdered on Sunday in Kano in a suicide bombing.
But the details established by the military shows that while the world’s attention is focused on the Sambisa forest reserves, about 330 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the terrorists mapped a complex mission that began at Chibok, and veered north east of Sambisa, before heading to west of Bama and east of Konduga.
With the sighting, officials fear that Boko Haram militants may be seeking to create new options of escape all the way to Lo-gone-Et Chari in Cameroon to its Southeast, Lake Chad to its east and Diffa in Niger Republic to its north, providing a multiple escape options in the event of hostile ground operations against it.
Notwithstanding the sighting, the government is said not to be considering the use of force against the extremists, a choice informed by concerns for the safety of the students.
But with growing local and international pressure, a likely option may be for the authorities to enter into talks with the group, whose leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a May 12 video broadcast, called for dialogue and “prisoner” swap with the government.
The government has ruled out that option in the open but knowledgeable sources in Abuja hinted at a possible “twin track” approach that includes open rejection and a closet engagement.
“That option is not as bitter as you think in the face of the alternatives confronting us,” the source who has deep insight on the thinking of the administration, said.
“Government is working hard to free the girls in less than one week, possibly before end of this week,” the source said.
“You don’t expect me to tell you that the girls have been sighted or have not been sighted,” Mr. Olukolade said. “I will only say our team are working hard and taking note of every information provided to ensure that our girls are rescued without delay.”
For the army, according to inside sources, the critical needs now, to contain the insurgency, are airlift helicopters, armoured tanks, and protective gears, but the foreign military presence is not leading in that direction.
“Foreign military assistance you speak about has been largely in the media and for international public relations value that is almost certainly not likely to end up in boots on the ground or badly needed weaponry to assist us here,” one of our sources said.
One arm of the foreign assistance cell of the United States with about 30 men and the UK with 10 men have been largely based in Abuja holding “endless meetings” with local officers.
Local officers in Maiduguri say they “haven’t as much as seen even the slightest intelligence from our foreign friends.”
This claim belies the widely held views of military cooperation at the intelligence levels, since the US Air Force (USAF) Beechcraft MC-12W Liberty aircraft, based in Niamey in Niger, began flying over the north east region, according to reports from the Jane’s Defense magazine, quoting U.S. government sources.
Niamey is also base to the USAF General Atomics MQ-1 Predator UAVs but they have not been reported to be participating on the northeast mission against Boko Haram.
Jane’s magazine also reported that the USAF base in Niamey will soon be joined by the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying from US Naval Air Station Sigonella on Sicily.
If the foreign forces triggers into active mission, the French, which deployed two General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles to Ndjamena in January, and which keeps a large detachment of Dassault Rafale and Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters as well as Boeing KC-135FR tankers, will be the most influential on account of their proximity to the location sites of the abducted girls near the Chad borders.
Last Saturday, May 18, the UK deployed the A Raytheon Sentinel R.1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) aircraft from its base at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire to Accra.
The overall air operation by the United States, United Kingdom, and France that is concentrated on building the information picture of the crisis zone and coordinating airborne ISTAR, satellite imagery, and signals intelligence assets to best effect, is being co-coordinated by AFRICOM’s air coordination station at Ramstein Airbase in Germany.
Muraina said without adequate funding, the army would not be able to halt the current activities of Boko Haram.
He said, “Currently, budgetary allocation for the military is inadequate to meet the contemporary security challenges and also cater for the welfare of the Nigerian Army.”
Muraina noted that apart from inadequate funding,the army was enmeshed in bureaucratic bottlenecks for funding approvals for military operations across the country, urging the Federal Government to evolve other means of funding and supporting military operations aside the usual budgetary allocations.
He also said there was the need for a special operation fund to be included in the defence budget and placed under the control of the Chief of Army Staff.
Muraina , who described Warrant Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers as the backbone of regimentation in the Nigerian Army, said, “Apart from limitations of the envelope system, the Nigerian Army is enmeshed in the bureaucratic bottlenecks for funding approvals for military operations.
“This calls for a review as the increasing speed at which the effects of conflicts appear in the operational environment will continue to challenge commanders.
“It is our humble appeal that government could evolve other means of funding and supporting military operations other than the normal budgetary allocations.
“Such means include but not limited to strategic cooperation and liason with other civil industries for the production of uniforms and other equipment.
“A special operation fund could be included in defence budget and placed under the control of the Chief of Army Staff.
“The increasing dynamic environment coupled with continued technogical development in the country and our immediate neighbours have spurred the Nigerian Army to place high premium on efficiency, proficiency and professionalism of officers and soldiers.”
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimah, noted with regrets that there had been an increase in the wave of socio-political and ethno-religious crises threatening the nation’s security.
Muraina said without adequate funding, the army would not be able to halt the current activities of Boko Haram.
He said, “Currently, budgetary allocation for the military is inadequate to meet the contemporary security challenges and also cater for the welfare of the Nigerian Army.”
Muraina noted that apart from inadequate funding,the army was enmeshed in bureaucratic bottlenecks for funding approvals for military operations across the country, urging the Federal Government to evolve other means of funding and supporting military operations aside the usual budgetary allocations.
He also said there was the need for a special operation fund to be included in the defence budget and placed under the control of the Chief of Army Staff.
Muraina , who described Warrant Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers as the backbone of regimentation in the Nigerian Army, said, “Apart from limitations of the envelope system, the Nigerian Army is enmeshed in the bureaucratic bottlenecks for funding approvals for military operations.
“This calls for a review as the increasing speed at which the effects of conflicts appear in the operational environment will continue to challenge commanders.
“It is our humble appeal that government could evolve other means of funding and supporting military operations other than the normal budgetary allocations.
“Such means include but not limited to strategic cooperation and liason with other civil industries for the production of uniforms and other equipment.
“A special operation fund could be included in defence budget and placed under the control of the Chief of Army Staff.
“The increasing dynamic environment coupled with continued technogical development in the country and our immediate neighbours have spurred the Nigerian Army to place high premium on efficiency, proficiency and professionalism of officers and soldiers.”
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimah, noted with regrets that there had been an increase in the wave of socio-political and ethno-religious crises threatening the nation’s security.
Boko Haram: Unsung Heroes -Nwaeze, Olalekan, Odushina
Last week, in search of the missing girls, Lt Col Nwaeze was ambushed by members of Islamic terror group, Boko Haram. Lt Col Nwaeze and three other soldiers were killed. His wife is grief stricken the children unconscionable. But one thing is sure, Gallant Nwaeze place in History is assured.
Major Akinola Olalekan also died an hero along with his colleagues in the current war against Boko Haram in Born State! He was killed by the bullet of the extremists.
Lt Odushina Oluwafemi was ambushed with his troops by boko haram while trying to #BringBackOurGirls in the Chibok area last Tuesday.
Lt Odushina Oluwafemi attended Air Force Secondary School ikeja, and has served as part of the UN peace keeping forces in Darfur. He went to Pakistan for additional training course only to be deployed to Maiduguri in March 2014 where he met his untimely death a few days ago.
May the death of these heroes, including those of others, never be in vain, and may the Nigerian Government start honoring heroes like them.
