Last updated on September 15th, 2021 at 11:42 am
A two-minute, 17 seconds video has shown Chadian President Idriss Déby accusing the Nigerian authority of releasing captured Boko Haram fighters.
A few days ago, Derby, a retired Army General, was seen in military gear where he led his troops to confront Boko Haram fighters at the Goje-Chadian area of Sambisa forest where over 1,000 insurgents were killed in the onslaught and seized thousands of weapons belonging to the outlawed group.
Seventeen months after the late leader made the accusation against Nigerian troops, authorities in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) have released 15 names of companies and 38 names of sponsors of the terror group.
After the onslaught which is the deadliest attack on Boko Haram in years, the Chadian President hinted that Nigerian soldiers were not part of the team that killed some members of the dreaded group.
Before that, the Abubakar Shekau-led Boko Haram fighters had launched an attack on Chadian soldiers and killed over 70 in the process.
When announcing how he plans to permanently defeat the insurgents in the Lake Chad region, the Chadian President ordered his soldiers not to allow their Nigerian counterparts to free captured Boko Haram insurgents.
In a video that went viral on social media, President Déby is seen telling the troops that if Boko Haram fighters were freed, they’d come to Chad to terrorize his people.
Derby who spoke in French said, “This place will be our zone until Nigeria sends its soldiers. Stay with them for about a month. Do not let them free captured weapons or any Boko Haram terrorists, they will return to Chad and this will just hurt us.”
His soldiers were seen hailing while he spoke, “So let them just understand. We are not leaving the situation like this.
“In the next few days, I will speak with the President of Niger. You guys destroyed at least 90 percent of Boko Haram.
“That I confirm and can tell the world that 90 percent of Boko Haram is destroyed. The 10 percent that is left are running everywhere,” he said.
He confirmed that some of the insurgents drowned while some of them escaped and ran saying, “but they will never come to Chad again. Chad is no place for Boko Haram.”
It isn’t the first time the Chadian president would be indicting Nigerian authority in the fight against insurgency.
In March 2015 during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, he stated that Nigeria was absent from the war against Boko Haram.
At the time of this report, Defence Headquarters was yet to respond to Derby’s allegation.
How true is his allegation?
As one of the measures to end insurgency in the North East, the Nigerian Army on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari launched Operation Safe Corridor in 2016 to deradicalize and rehabilitate all repentant Boko Haram members.
Nigerians condemned the idea, questioning the Buhari-led government why it could be negotiating with criminals who had killed thousands of Nigerians and soldiers.