Nigerian Military Nabs 30 soldiers, Civilians Over Alleged Arms Sales to Terrorists

In a disturbing development, the Nigerian military has apprehended over 30 soldiers and police officers, alongside several civilians, on suspicion of pilfering weapons from official stockpiles and selling them to various armed groups, including jihadists operating in the country.

This shocking development comes as Nigeria battles with a multi-faceted prolonged security crisis. This includes a protracted 15-year jihadist insurgency in the north-east, persistent farmer-herder clashes in the north-central region, escalating secessionist agitation in the south-east, and a rampant wave of kidnap-for-ransom incidents in the north-west.

Army spokesman Ademola Owolana revealed on Friday during a briefing that an operation, code-named “response to incessant cases of arms and ammunition theft,” was launched in August 2024 to tackle the alarming trend.

“So far, a total of 18 soldiers, 15 mobile policemen, and eight civilians, including a traditional ruler, have been arrested, he says.”

Owolana further explained the alleged motive behind the illicit trade.

“A few soldiers motivated by greed had been involved in ammunition racketeering, deliberately diverting arms from military stockpiles and supply chains to terrorists,”he laments

The revelation sheds light on a potentially critical source of weaponry for the very groups the Nigerian military is fighting. The country has recently witnessed a resurgence of deadly jihadist attacks in the northeast, with Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) increasingly targeting military bases.

Studies by the UK-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which has extensively tracked jihadist weapons sources for a decade, indicate that raids on military bases have supplied at least 20 percent of the weapons used by jihadist groups across the Sahel region. This underscores the severity of internal arms diversion and its potential to fuel insecurity.

Recall that there has been renewed Boko Haram’s resurgence and heavy military casualties in Borno, and other parts of the countr