Army colonel responsible for arrest of 377 BH members fired via text message

Fresh Information has revealed that Colonel Auwal Suleiman, who masterminded the establishment of the civilian joint task force and coordinated the arrest of 377 members of Boko Haram in 2009, was forced to retire via a text message.

Suleiman was among 38 other army officers who were retired by the Nigerian Army in June 2016.

The retired colonel instituted a court case and secured a judgement directing for his reinstatement in February 2020. However, while delivering the judgment, Justice Sanusi Kado of the Abuja National Industrial Court rejected the claim that the colonel was unjustly retired due to an overstay of 18 years in the service.

The Nigerian military and intelligence services had often relied on Suleiman in counter-terrorism operations, owing to his bravery and tactical savviness.

He was appointed as Deputy Chief of Operations to the United Nations Mission in Darfur and as Deputy Defence Adviser to the Nigerian Embassy in Washington in 2011 and 2012, respectively. However, these appointments were abruptly cancelled as he was an important figure in combating terrorism in the North-East.

“It may interest you to note that Colonel Suleiman midwifed the idea of using local vigilantes and hunters in tackling the ravaging Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East which gave birth to popular Civilian JTF in Borno State,” a military intelligence officer told PRNigeria.

“He led a joint intelligence task force comprising other security agencies in uncovering of secret cells of the Boko Haram insurgents in many cities of Northern Nigeria.”