Boko Haram: “We Can't Help Nigeria Again After What Buhari Did” – Mercenaries Vow

Only a few days after North-East Governors urged President Muhammadu Buhari to enlist the help of mercenaries to tackle Boko Haram, the foreign military contractors earlier engaged by the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration have vowed never to return.

The fighters had taken the battle to the terrorists in Sambisa forest and other enclaves at that time. Then, Nigeria covertly brought in ‘military-technical advisers’ regarded as mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union.

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The mercenaries dealt Boko Haram severe blows day and night, ahead of the 2015 general election. 

There was also a tacit confirmation by Jonathan that two companies were providing “trainers and technicians” to help Nigerian forces. But soon after the election, the newly installed President Muhammadu Buhari, had reportedly asked the mercenaries to leave. 

Now, calls for the warriors to return following the continuous brutal attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP are being made. 

Online newspaper, Daily Post reported that the founder of Specialized Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection,(STTEP), Eeben Barlow, revealed that Buhari stopped their raids against insurgents. 

Barlow said their proposal was antagonised and politicised by Buhari and his team “even before they assumed office.”

“The initial 3-phase campaign strategy (known as ‘Operational Anvil’) to degrade and destroy BH in Borno State, was rejected by his advisors,” Barlow added.

Barlow recalled that the company was willing to stay back in the Northeast but the President “made it known that the company’s presence would not be tolerated under his administration.” 

One of the facilitators of “soldiers of fortune”, while speaking to newsmen, decried the persecution and prosecution of foreigners and Nigerian counterparts who participated in the war after Jonathan left and President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office. 

According to him, some payments for operations they executed are still outstanding. 

Here's what he said;

“In fact, some of our covert operations and activities of operatives in Nigeria including incurred casualties were exposed as working for mercenaries. Imagine that even highly classified and coded transactions for operational purposes were exposed as corruption.

“It’s easier to confirm what we did because we were able to recover dozens of towns from Boko Haram from at least three states in the North-East at the time. This is an open secret.”  

He condemned the fact that some Nigerian military and intelligence officers who participated in the 2014/2015 operation were retired, prosecuted and convicted. 

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The secret agent hinted that top government officials at federal and state levels are reaching out to them, but reiterated their resolve not to come back, noting that mercenaries find it difficult to work in a country where their operations, strategy and thinking are exposed to the media and judicial processes.