Boko Haram: Military moves against sabotage, espionage

Boko Haram

Indications have emerged that the authorities of the Nigerian military are responding to the threat of sabotage and leakage of information to insurgents in the North East, revealed that the military had assigned two major agencies, the Nigeria Intelligence Agency and the Directorate of Military Intelligence to monitor troop movements and telephone conversations especially

in the mission area.

A security source said on Thursday that the military leadership had been discreetly investigating suspected incidents of information leakage and inappropriate conduct during the operation.

The source said, for instance, that the Commander in charge of the vicinity around the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, a major, was facing a military court martial in relation with the unfortunate slaughter of the students of the school by the insurgents.

The source explained that the military had ensured that fundamentalists and troops with extremist views were not posted to the mission areas.

It was stated that background checks were always carried out on troops before being posted to the mission areas.

The source stated, “I can confirm to you that two major agencies of government , the NIA and the Directorate of Military Intelligence, are monitoring troop movements and phone calls.

“The authorities conduct background checks on troops before posting, they don’t allow troops with fundamentalist tendencies to be posted to such places.

“I can tell you also that all the calls from Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been closely monitored. NIA has done so much in arresting so many people.

The source explained that the efforts of the NIA and the DMI and other agencies in tracking telephone calls and other areas of intelligence facilitated the arrest of those who carried out the twin bomb attack on Nyanya on April 14,2014 and May 1, 2015.

The source added that several soldiers had been killed because of misleading information from politicians, local communities and others with sympathy for the insurgents.

A security source said that the issue of connivance and betrayal by troops with sympathy for insurgents was one of the factors militating against the success of the operation.

It was gathered that soldiers were becoming uncomfortable because of series of ambush made possible by such elements, highly placed politicians and even the locals in the area who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of their presence.