Nigeria's defense chief is accusing some members of the security forces of collaborating with militants in the Niger Delta.
VOA reporter Chinedu Offor is on assignment in Nigeria. From the capital, Abuja, he spoke to English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua.
"These accusations were made by none other than the Nigerian chief of defense staff, Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike. He's accusing his men of conniving with militants to attack military personnel, as well as destroy sensitive government operations. He says it amounted to economic sabotage and that it was a shame that the same people who are trained and paid to defend the country are conniving with militants to destroy the country," he says.
The military official points to the nature of attacks by militants as evidence of collaboration. "He says the ease with which militants strike and the daring nature of their attacks suggest they had inside information. And he is saying that these attacks were coordinated, facilitated, in his words, by the leaking of information to these militants," Offor says.
An investigation is underway.