PIC. 4. FROM LEFT: ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ARMY PUBLIC RELATIONS, COL. SANI USMAN; DIRECTOR, ARMY PUBLIC RELATIONS, BRIG.-GEN. IBRAHIM ATTAHIRU AND COMMANDANT, NIGERIAN DEFENCE ACADEMY, MAJ.-GEN. CHUKWUEMEKA ONWAMAEGBU, AT THE SECOND QUARTER OF STUDY PERIOD OF DIRECTORATE OF ARMY PUBLIC RELATIONS IN KADUNA ON MONDAY (10/6/13).
BY Femi Owolabi
Attahiru Ibrahim, a major general, has been removed from his position as the theatre commander of the Lafiya Dole operation.
TheCable understands that Ibrahim has been replaced by Rogers Nicholas, a major general who was formerly in charge of logistics at the army headquarters.
Ibrahim is expected to resume as deputy chief of policy and plans at the army headquarters.
His removal is said to be linked to the seeming inefficiency of his command in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency.
In May, he took over the theatre command from Lucky Irabor who is now coordinating the multinational joint task force (MNJTF).
Since then, suicide bombings and attacks on military formations have been on the rise.
In June, barely a month after Ibrahim took over, Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
The month after, a group of geologists and technologists from the University of Maiduguri were ambushed by Boko Haram insurgents at Magumeri area of Borno state. About 12 soldiers who escorted the academics were reportedly killed.
Some members of staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the team were also killed in the brutal ambush.
Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, in August gave a 40-day ultimatum for Ibrahim and his troops to capture Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram sect, but this is yet to be achieved.
Months after the army chief had ordered the capture of Shekau, the sect, using four female suicide bombers, attacked Muna Gari, a suburb of Maiduguri, killing about 14 persons.
Series of attacks were also carried out in Adamawa state.
About 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a mosque in Yola.
A unit commander of the army and about 15 soldiers were killed in November when the insurgents attacked a military unit in Sassawa, Yobe state.
A recent attack was carried out in Biu, Borno state, where two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in a market, killing about 18 people.
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