Borno Villagers From Kala Balge Keep 40 Soldiers Imprisoned

About 40 soldiers of the Nigerian Army are being held in captivity by civilians in Kala-Balge village, Borno State, for over two weeks, Every Nigerian Do Something (ENDS) group reports.

The group of suspected military men was caught and imprisoned on May 13, 2014, on the day when the residents defended themselves from Boko Haram assault and killed about 200 insurgents.

Upon receiving this information, ENDS has initiated its own checks and investigations. Some more evidence was discovered during them, despite the villagers have agreed to keep the details as a secret.

The locals informed the newsmen that the Federal Government was aware of the incident and issued a confidential statement asking for their release.

According to previous information, about 35 Boko Haram fighters dressed in military uniforms were captured in the battle. However, it is highly possible that these were not terrorists who disguised as soldiers, but the actual military men on service, who did nothing to protect the population during the battle.

The lack of trust to the Nigerian Army and the strength of resistance in Kala Balge are proved by the following fact: when vigilantes captured an armoured personnel carrier, they preferred to burn it down. One of the defendants explained to ENDS that people believed that it would have been returned to the hands of Boko Haram, after being transferred back to the army.

The attempts get an official response from the representatives of the Nigerian Army have not been successful.

It would be recalled that a shocking report by BBC Hausa made another revelation of improper management in the army. One of the soldiers narrated how his unit of about 200 people was forced to stand down, while relatively small group of about 50 Boko Haram fighters was burning Gamboru-Ngala town down, killing about 310 of its residents. The source further informed that a military helicopter was spotted in the air, but it did not fire at enemy tank and did nothing to stop the advancing terrorists, providing some kind of cover to the attackers.

The Western world, the U.S.A. in particular, also have a low level of trust to the Nigerian military, fear possibilities of sabotage inside its structures. This distrust is proven by the fact that the U.S. shares only a limited amount of surveillance data, collected by its drones, with Nigerian operatives.