The Nigerian Army has revealed that exposing the sponsors of Boko Haram is not the mandate of the institution.
This was stated by the Coordinator of Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen John Enenche during a media briefing on Thursday.
Nigeria has been battling insurgency in the North-east for the last 12 years and the war doesn’t look close to coming to an end soon even with the Amnesty being granted to Boko Haram fighters by the Nigerian Government.
The conflict has gradually grown to involve the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) which broke away from Boko Haram, Armed Bandits and rouge killer herdsmen.
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Nigerians had appealed to the government as well as the military to expose influential individuals domestic and foreign sponsoring the terrorist organisations so they can be tried and the orgy ended once and for all.
The government and the military high command have however repeatedly failed to mention these sponsors even though they claim to have knowledge of the existence of these sponsors.
On Thursday, Maj-Gen Eneche confirmed that the Army was aware that some of the insurgent groups being fought in the Northeast have serious financial backing. He said however that the major task of the Army is to fight terrorism and other criminality and not expose their sponsors.
Enenche said the duty belonged to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS).
“It is not the duty of the military to uncover the sponsors. Our duty is to remain in the frontline and defeat terrorism and other criminality and that is what we are doing.”
“We have the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Dept of State Security (DSS). It is their responsibility to gather intelligence on the sponsors of the terrorists and not the military,” Enenche said.