General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defense Staff, recently spoke about the incident in Zamfara where a military Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) got stuck in a swampy area and was taken over by bandits.
In a live coverage by TVC from 12:23, General Musa said that while soldiers were attempting to recover the vehicle, villagers informed the bandits about the military’s situation. He said the bandits arrived in large numbers and attacked the military personnel.
According to General Musa, one of the significant challenges in fighting insurgency is the presence of informants within local communities. He said some people, motivated by financial gain, assist the bandits by providing them with crucial information about military operations.
In General Musa’s words: “When the army APC got bugged down, it was the villagers that called bandits to tell them that the military is bugged down, they should come there and they came in en mass. So this is the problem we are having. Some people are on the side of the terrorists or bandits because of the money they get from them. It is blood money”.