The repentant terrorist, Ba’na Bdiya, was said to have masterminded the recent attack that led to the killing of several soldiers in a border community with Cameroun.
Also, a counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed, yesterday, in Maiduguri that two former Boko Haram commanders, Goni Farouq and Amir Zabu, were intercepted last week by the Army.
“They were arrested, while making conversations to launch attack against troops in the Lake Chad region,” said Makama.
He said that Ba’ana was among the thousands of Boko Haram members, who laid down their arms.
According to him, the repentant terrorist was accepted into society after undergoing rehabilitation in Gombe and Maiduguri.
He noted that despite renouncing his membership of the terror group, he (Ba’ana) maintained close contact with his former colleagues in their hideouts.
“Information provided by Ba’ana helped the Boko Haram to successfully ambush troops at Ngauri,” he said, adding that this led to the killing of some soldiers in February 2023.
“On March 16, 2023, the suspect passed another information on the movement of the troops, which enabled the terrorists to attack them with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
“The explosives killed three soldiers and injured four others in the outskirts of Banki border community.”
Makama, therefore, warned against the continued release of repentant terrorists into society without profiling and de-radicalisation.
This, according to him, could subvert the progress made so far in the war against terrorism in Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad region.
He stressed the need to adopt a multi-sectorial approach to the rehabilitation of former fighters.
“The Federal Government is to assist the military and Borno State government in finding an effective means of handling over 90,000 former militants in Maiduguri.”
