Chad president’s friend buys 19 missiles for Boko Haram

The claim that insurgency in Nigeria is being fuelled by some faceless persons and groups within and outside Africa became clearer with the news of arrest of one Mr Mahamat Bichara Gnoti, who is alleged to be a close associate of the Chadian President, Idriss Déby.

Mr Gnoti was reported to have been apprehended on the Chadian-Sudan border with 19 SAM2 missiles, which he allegedly purchased from the Sudanese army for Boko Haram terrorists.
According to an online news portal, Saharareporters, which quoted a Cameroonian investigative journalist, Bisong Etahoben, via his Twitter, Mr Gnoti claimed that President Idriss Déby gave him “the funds to purchase the weapons, …waved a presidential pass issued to him by Mr Deby’s office in order to get past border guards, but was stopped and searched by the guards who found the deadly weapons on him.”
The news portal further alleged that with the arrest, it was clear that the Chadian leader was one of those sponsoring insurgency in Nigeria, claiming that Mr Déby had similarly swindled the Nigerian government “out of millions of dollars in Nigeria’s failed attempt to negotiate the release of some 200 high school girls abducted by Boko Haram.”
When Sunday Tribune visited the Twitter handle of Mr Bisong Etahoben at chiefBisongEtace1, it confirmed the story, noting that Mr Gnoti was actually arrested on November 17.
A highly placed source in the Nigerian security formation told Sunday Tribune on Saturday that Nigerian Government had launched an investigation to determine the veracity of the report.
Though he declined to be named, the source said government’s attention had been drawn to the Gnoti affair and would take appropriate action once it ascertains the correctness of the report and the purported role of the Chadian president.http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/22284-chad-president-s-friend-buys-19-missiles-for-boko-haram