No fewer than 300 Nigerian soldiers fled to Cameroon when Boko Haram insurgents overran Mubi, the second largest city in Borno State from security forces on Wednesday,Punch has learnt.
Cameroonian military sources said that Nigerian soldiers would be moved away from the border areas to more secure locations, where they would be disarmed, fed and eventually repatriated to Nigeria.Speaking to Sunday Punch on Friday under the condition of anonymity, a senior Cameroonian military officer involved in the provision of welfare materials to the deserters, said,
They (Nigerian soldiers) are mostly around Boucla village in Bourha sub-division.So far, we can estimate the number of arrivals to be at about 300. These are the ones who arrived in uniform but we know that there are several others who shed their uniforms for civilian attires.”
It was further learnt that Cameroon had begun screening of deserters and refugees to prevent infiltration by insurgents.
This time around, we are conducting a more thorough screening to avoid letting in Boko Haram infiltrators, who are known to inhabit the ranks of the Nigerian military,” an official of the Cameroonian government had told our correspondent in confidence.
Another Cameroonian military officer, who insisted on anonymity, expressed fears over possible infiltration of the country’s system through the refugee camps. He declined to give further details on how the screening was being conducted.He said,
Taking them in is not something to make noise about. You and I know that we are in a military situation here. This is a war zone with Boko Haram spies crawling all over the place.The number we take and where we take them are obviously a military intelligence affair and nobody can give you that information, even if you were to approach the authorities in Yaounde.”
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