“Alleged Boko Haram Member Who Disguised As Woman Was A Nigerian Soldier” – Sahara Reporters

Several months ago, as associates of
former President Goodluck Jonathan
pushed the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone
the 2015 general elections, a video was
released of an alleged Islamist terrorist
caught in a woman’s dress.
However, a video obtained by our
correspondent revealed that the man
presented to the Nigerian public as a
Boko Haram insurgent is an enlisted
Nigerian soldier serving at the time as
a member of a multinational military
task force operating in Nigeria’s
northeast.
In making a case for postponing the
presidential election that had been
scheduled for February 14, 2015, Mr.
Jonathan’s National Security Adviser,
Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), had
claimed that Nigeria needed to launch
an offensive to dislodge Boko Haram
from the northeast and end
insurgency.
Shortly before and after the elections
were postponed, Nigerian troops
ramped up the fight against Boko
Haram, liberating areas hitherto
captured by the insurgents.
The troops released photos of
weapons it claimed to have seized
from the insurgents. However, some
of the photos bore timestamps
indicating the shots were taken as far
back as 2011.
In an intriguing twist just uncovered
by our correspondent, the remarkable
photo and account of a man disguised
as a woman has been exposed as a
ruse as well. The military had claimed
that the man was an insurgent
captured after a fierce operation led
by the Nigerian Air Force.
But a 10-minute video clip of the
man’s interrogation showed the man
clearly revealing that he was a
soldier. During what appeared to be a
debriefing session with an officer who
was taking notes, the man explained
that he had been in hiding after Boko
Haram fighters overran his military
post. He had been in hiding until
Nigerian soldiers and Air Force
liberated his hideout.
Although the unnamed soldier wore
women clothes, he also had his army
uniform on his lap during the
interrogation. Throughout the
interrogation, the man spoke in
pidgin English. He told his
interrogators about the might of Boko
Haram fighters and described how
members of the sect moved their
families from the scene of a recent
bombing. At a point he expressed
surprise that, despite the movement
of Boko Haram fighters in long
convoys, the insurgents were never
subjected to aerial bombardment by
Air Force jets.
The soldier appeared to plead with
the senior officer debriefing him at
the end of the video, which had
apparently been edited for clarity and
brevity.
SaharaReporters was unable to reach
any senior military officer to explain
why the soldier was presented to the
public as a Boko Haram member.