Australian negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis, has accused the United
States of not sharing intelligence on Boko Haram with Nigerian government.
TheCable reports that the negotiator, who was in Nigeria for
four months to negotiate the release of the abducted school girls from Chibok,
Borno State, with Boko Haram commanders, questioned the value of the United
States involvement in the war against insurgency.
“Americans claim they are doing aerial reconnaissance. Why are
they not passing the information to the Nigerian military? With this
information, the Nigerian military could intercept the Boko Haram convoy before
it reaches its target,” he said.
Davis, while recounting the days and weeks he spent talking with
commanders of the sect over the release of the Chibok girls, revealed that the
terrorists usually move in a convoy of 20 to 60 vehicles at night, before they
expanded and started launching large-scale attacks in the daylight.
He also hinted on how the sect usually ambush Nigerian soldiers
as a result of the hostile environment in the North-East, and described the
incident of last six months as worrisome. He said most roads in the rural north
of Borno are very narrow.
“The militants normally strike
at night, so they lay in wait where the military has to slow down to a crawl
due to the poor road condition. Sometimes they dig the potholes deeper to
entrap a convoy. On getting wind of the ongoing attacks, the Nigerian military
would dispatch soldiers in a convoy of vehicles. Unfortunately, and unknown to
the soldiers, the insurgents may have enlarged a big hole on the road. So in a
convoy of say 20 vehicles, the first vehicle draws to a halt as it encounters
the ditch. By the time the soldiers realise what is happening and try to make a
U-turn, they are ambushed by the insurgents as the convoy struggles to turn
around on the narrow pot-holed road,” he said.
The negotiator,
however, noted that military action alone is unlikely to end the insurgency
currently bedeviling the country.
It would be
recalled that after Boko Haram kidnapped over 200 female students from
Government Girls Secondary School, in April 2014, the U.S.A. promised to help
Nigerian government fight insurgency. It gave some of its military personnel to
training Nigerian soldiers, as well as shared some aerial
reconnaissance data and equipment, but did not send any ground
troops.
Other international communities like the United Kingdom, Israel
and China also offered to help, but, despite the promises from these
international powers, the menace of the dreaded terrorist group is yet to be
fully curtailed.
Meanwhile, Dr Stephen Davis had on August
31, 2014, insisted that former governor of Borno State, Modu Sheriff and former
Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika are Boko Haram sponsors. It would be recalled
that ex-Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory and a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Nasir
El-Rufai also alleged on August 28, that Modu Sheriff, Gen. Ihejirika are Boko
Haram sponsors.
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