Maiduguri attacks: Military suspects insider collaboration

The military authorities have commenced investigations into the  attacks on the Nigerian Air Force Base and other military formations by the Boko Haram insurgents in the early hours on Monday .

A security source disclosed this to our correspondent in  Abuja on Tuesday, just as the Nigerian Air Force deployed more fighter jets in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The military leadership and investigators are working on the suspicion that the daring attacks might have been facilitated by insiders.

Investigations revealed that the leadership of the military was deeply concerned with the realisation that the incident took place at a time the Special Forces were planning one of the biggest offensives against the insurgents.

The security source, who confided in our  correspondent, said that the motive of the attack was to weaken the operation or make it impossible.

The military authorities were said to have  doubts that the timing of the attack could just be a coincidence.

It was further gathered that the Air Force Base and other targets of the  Monday morning attacks were too strategic and fortified for insurgents to attack without information.

The military leadership, it was learnt, was further shocked by the discovery that the suspected terrorists planted Improvised Explosive Devices around the Air Force base and the 333 Artillery Regiment with the intent to ambush troops from carrying out rescue operations.

The source said that suspicion about insiders’ collaboration was further deepened by the puzzle over how the insurgents successfully planted the IEDs, which they exploded without being caught. The military high command on Tuesday dispatched a high powered team of military strategists led by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, to ascertain the extent of the attack on the Nigerian Air Force base and other security formations and to report back to Abuja.

The team has not  returned  to Abuja as of the time of filing this report.

The source said, “We are believing strongly that this incident was made possible by insiders’ collaboration in terms of giving them information.

“You know, that place is very strategic. Another thing is that some final operations were being planned, which would have dealt a devastating blow on them and weakened them seriously.

“We believe that the aim was to distract and slow down that mission.

“The issue is: How did they get to the place to plant the IEDs, which they planted with the aim of preventing intervention and to ambush troops that tried to intervene.

“From the realm of information, there is a lot of what insiders could have done. It appears to be a well planned attack.”

Meanwhile, the authorities of the Nigerian Air Force on Tuesday deployed more fighter jets in Maiduguri to intensify the pursuit of the fleeing insurgents.

A security source who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said that the Special Forces spotted and killed some of the insurgents between Benisheik and Maiduguri.

The source said that the military had not collated the number of people killed as the operation involved mainly air strikes.

It was further learnt that the Boko Haram attack affected two helicopters with transparent floor considered critical to the surveillance activities of the Special Forces, especially along the long Maiduguri-Potiskum-Damaturu-Bauchi Road.

The  attack also affected three unserviceable MIG fighter jets that were awaiting evacuation to the archives.

Calls to the telephone line of the Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen Chris Olukolade, did not connect.

But the Director of Air Force Information, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, told  our correspondents on the telephone that the Air Force had replaced the damaged helicopters with a new helicopter and an MI35 fighter jet on Tuesday.

He added that an additional helicopter would be deployed by Friday.