A Brigade Commander is among 16 officers and troops being
court-martial for selling arms to Boko Haram terrorists. He is facing a secret
trial in Maiduguri, Borno state over what happened to 21 anti-aircraft
guns assigned this year to his artillery brigade.
The brigade commander, not yet identified, claimed before
his arrest that he only received one gun, the Associated Press
reported.
Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the theatre commander in
northeastern Nigeria, told a news conference last week that military
authorities have confirmed that some soldiers were selling arms and ammunition
to Boko Haram. He called it a betrayal of the Nigerian people. He gave no more
details.
The admission comes three weeks after the Nigerian army said
a military tribunal is trying 16 officers and troops accused of offences
related to the fight against Boko Haram, including the theft and sale of
ammunition.
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed corruption for the
deaths of thousands in the seven-year Islamic uprising that has killed more
than 20,000. Children who escaped Boko Haram are dying of starvation in refugee
camps in the northeast, where the government is investigating the alleged theft
of food aid.
In addition, a slew of retired and current military officers
are being investigated for diverting hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted
to help curb the Islamic uprising.
Among them is Alex Badeh, a four-star general whom Buhari
fired from his post as chief of defense staff. Witnesses have told a Federal
High Court that Badeh stole the equivalent of $24 million budgeted for salaries
in 2013 and built a shopping mall in Abuja, the capital.
Before Buhari took power, soldiers told the AP they were
forced into battle with just 30 bullets each and no food rations.
They said Boko Haram was better armed and that their
officers were stealing parts of their salaries and allowances.
Many ran away when the extremists attacked, allowing Boko
Haram to take control of a large swath of northeastern Nigeria in 2014.
Under Buhari, a former military leader, a multinational
force has retaken most towns but Boko Haram continues to carry out
occasional hit-and-run attacks.
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