Thirteen ex-fighters of the Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JASDJ), popularly known as Boko Haram, have reportedly escaped with rifles and motorcycles given to them by the Borno State government, which co-opted them to join military operatives in the fight against the insurgents in the state.
Journalists gathered that the military provides the ex-fighters with sophisticated rifles, motorcycles, and ammunition for joint counterinsurgency operations. According to our sources, these weapons are always recovered from them after any operation.
Unfortunately,13 of them attached to the military operatives in Mafa escaped from their camp between the 1st and 2nd of September, Malik Samuel, a researcher with a deep understanding of jihadi groups in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region, told our reporter.
Mr Samuel, a senior researcher with Good Governance Africa, said eight ex-fighters first escaped from the camp on 1 September before five others followed suit the next day.
He said the escapees called Abdullahi Ishaq, a special adviser to the government on security matters, threatened to unleash more violence.
After their escape, the jubilant terrorists reportedly released a video brandishing the rifles.
The state government is yet to react to this development.
