Military arrests General, other senior military officers over Baga attack, moved them to Abuja for interrogation

 

A Brigadier General. A Lieutenant Colonel and five other top officers of the Nigerian Army deployed to Baga headquarters have been arrested and moved to Abuja for questioning. 

The arrested officers are expected to answer questions on the loss of men, location and military equipment which were taken over by the insurgents.

On January 5^th, 2015 the Baga headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force was attacked and taken over by members of the Boko Haram sect.  This attack came barely 48 hours after the army moved weapons to fortify the place in anticipation of a well-coordinated onslaught against the sect. 

The arrested officers are also to explain the circumstances surrounding the Boko Haram invasion of the headquarters of the MNJT and other places which were under their command. 

Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said the decision to arrest and interrogate the officers who were in charge of Baga at the time of the attack is a normal military procedure.  And that it was designed to gather necessary information for future operations in the area. 

He said, “Nigerian officers in key command positions of the Multi National Joint Task Force are in the process of accounting for their action in the mission area leading to loss of weapons, men and location in their area of responsibility.

“This is a normal military procedure in major operations and after some encounter.

“The essence is to extract and collate relevant information for subsequent missions. It could also lead to or determine appropriate disciplinary action where necessary.”