June 15, (THEWILL) – Operation Hadin Kai, the Joint Task Force in North East Operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP, recently announced the arrest of soldiers including an armourer, policemen, traditional rulers and civilians operating a support network for Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists in Borno State. Those arrested include eight civilians,15 policemen and 18 soldiers under suspicion of selling weapons to terrorists.
A traditional ruler and an armourer with the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, who is alleged to have been engaging in ‘such unprofessional conduct since 2018 and had N45 million in his bank account, another police inspector who has N35 million in his bank account and a soldier serving in the 3 Division Ordnance Corps, who also has the sum of N34 million in his bank account,’ are among the suspects.
The arrests, announced in May 2025, are not only commendable but also speak to the Nigerian Armed Forces’ determination to address the ongoing war against insecurity in the country. It also showed a significant breakthrough in intelligence gathering, while at the same time exposing a dangerous system that shows “how the strength of terrorist groups like ISWAP lies in how they embedded in the local space and infiltrated circles as deep as inside the armoury of the 7th Division.”
The arrests highlight again how this war is both against armed groups and networks that serve as oxygen for them.
Apart from confirming the recent claim by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State that collaborators within the police, army and compromised government officials were openly frustrating government efforts to tame and eliminate terrorism and banditry in the country, particularly in the Borno area, the arrests reveal the depth of the challenge facing the fight against insecurity.
We commend the Joint Task Force Operations for this victory and urge them to keep up the momentum. Analysts had feared that Governor Zulum’s claim, which, unfortunately, echoed a similar accusation by President Goodluck Jonathan 13 years ago, would degenerate to name -calling and denials by the Army High Command. Obviously, they had taken the governor’s claim with some maturity and attached some seriousness to it and in the end acted undistracted to make these significant arrests.
We understand that the army had disciplined its erring officers by dismissing and handing them over to the police for prosecution. That is how it should be; a professional way to handle such matters.
More important, with a cracked network, such as this in the Northeast operations, similar ones existing elsewhere will either begin to give up their nefarious acts or withdraw support to their criminal beneficiaries to the extent that their enterprise will collapse.
We urge the police and the justice system involved in the investigation and prosecution of the culprits, like others that are expected to follow with further exposure, to make their work public for its salutary impact.
We urge other operations in other parts of the country to emulate this breakthrough by Operation Hadin Kai. Once replicated nationwide, similar actions can only go a long way in defeating the terrorists, bandits and kidnappers whose dare devilry has literally kept Nigerians in fear and helplessness.
