not cooperating with the country in the efforts to stop the Boko Haram
insurgency in Nigeria and its borders.
Investigations on Friday revealed that the Cameroonian government had
issued a directive to all its military commanders in charge of border
areas with Nigeria to keep all critical information about Boko Haram
away from Nigeria.
In the directive which was obtained by our correspondent, Cameroon's
Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Mr. Rene
Emmanuel Sadi, reportedly told the commanders to withhold crucial
information about the insurgents from Nigeria.
Sadi, had in the letter with Decree no ...G/D/MINATD, with the title,
'Strong Message' addressed to the Commander, Rapid Intervention
Brigade, noted that Cameroon did not want the grave security situation
in Nigeria to spill over to the country.
He stated also that information on Nigeria from western countries
portrayed Nigeria in a negative manner.
He charged the Cameroonian forces to be vigilant along the border to
prevent further spill over of Boko Haram violence into the country.
The minister said the Cameroonian Head of State, Mr. Paul Biya, had
charged all the units to ensure that activities of the insurgents were
not allowed to get into the country.
The letter read, "As you are aware of the security situation in the
country, and the impending turmoil/danger coming from our neighbour,
Nigeria, you must keep all important information regarding the Islamic
sect under your control without sharing all the information with
Nigerians.
"We do not want the situation from our neighbouring country to spill
over to our country.
"Information from our Western friends portrays Nigeria negatively."
A security source further toldSUNDAY PUNCHon Friday that only 200
soldiers had been deployed in the areas where the Francophone country
said it had deployed 1,000 soldiers to secure its own side of the
border.
Further investigations revealed that the Chief of Defence Staff of
Cameroun had relocated to the North of the country to keep critical
intelligence away from Nigeria.
When contacted, the Director, Public Communication department,
Ministry of Foreign affairs, Ahmedu Ogbole-Ode, said he was not aware
of that Cameroon was not cooperating with Nigeria in the campaign
against terrorism, adding that he did not know that Cameroon had
ordered its security personnel not to work with the country.
He said, "I am not aware of the content of the letter, in fact, I'm
hearing it from you for the first time. I cannot comment on the level
of cooperation between Cameroon and Nigeria unless I get the necessary
information from our mission in Yaounde."
The Cameroonian Mission in Nigeria could not be reached for comments
on Friday as calls to the office was not responded to.
When our correspondent contacted the Director of Defence Information,
Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, he said the Nigerian military was willing to
collaborate with all bodies willing to aid the fight against
insurgency in the North-East.
He said, "The Nigerian military is disposed to cooperate with anyone
who is an ally in the fight against terrorism within the country, the
sub region and anywhere."
PUNCH
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