Boko Haram Took Over Heavily Fortified Towns Despite Being Ill-Equipped And Poorly Trained — Is Their Secret Passive Collaboration?

It’s no secret that Boko Haram is fighting with aging hardware and its militia has little to no combat training. How is it that, despite a lack of adequate infrastructure to wage a proper war and an army that simply isn’t combat certified, Boko Haram successfully managed to take control of multiple towns and villages that lie in its advancing path?

Though global apathy is being primarily blamed for the unrestricted and rampant rise of Boko Haram, perhaps the secret lays in the regional ties the terror outfit has. Quite recently, the organization managed to take over Mubi and its environs in Adamawa State. What’s surprising is the fact that it was just 30 Boko Haram insurgents against a battalion of over 1,000 heavily armed Nigerian troops. But what’s even more shocking is that Boko Haram managed to overrun the town without a single shot being fired, reported This Day Live.

Boko Haram could have been snuffed out quite easily and very early on in their rise to being a credible and threatening terror organization. But owing to quite a few sympathetic local governments’ troops, Boko Haram terror spread unabated. In fact, the latest capture of Mubi and other towns in Adamawa and Borno States are being squarely blamed on sabotage by sympathetic northern troops and some of their commanders who refused to fight the insurgents, revealed a military source.

“Those soldiers refused to fight, despite being better armed than the insurgents and instead ran away when only 30 insurgents invaded Mubi and its environs and captured the area without firing a shot. Instead of telling the truth they lie on social media and politicians lie on their behalf that the federal government is not arming them to fight Boko Haram. When Mubi was deserted, more insurgents followed suit and raided several establishments, especially banks in the town. In the Diamond Bank branch alone, they carted away over N100 million. “

While Boko Haram managed to lay its hands on the money to keep its organization well-funded, a similar indirect cooperation from the army allowed the organization to restock its arms cache.

But what’s truly worrisome is that some army veterans are teaching the militants to operate the armored machinery, continued the source.

“The terrorists also invaded deserted military formations in Mubi and Bama (Borno State) where they stole arms and armoured tanks that they could not even operate. As such, they have been soliciting for the assistance of retired army personnel to help them to operate the tanks.”

Majority of the troops who were supposed to safeguard the lands seem to have abandoned their duties, while the local government cites ludicrous reasons for the delay in recapturing the seized towns from the clutches of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has mercilessly captured women and children and butchered many. Perhaps the reluctance of the army to slaughter the terrorists has emboldened them.

[Image Credit: AFP, AP]