Senior military commanders have described stories in major international media and culled by local newspapers reporting that Nigeria is deploying hundreds of mercenaries against Boko Haram terrorists as a joke taken too far.

An online medium, PRNigeria, which has links with the military quoted unnamed officers as insisting that the foreigners were  technical advisers providing trainings and instructions on the use of new armaments recently procured by the Nigerian military in the war on terror.

Some top commanders who spoke with PRNigeria without wanting their identities disclosed insisted that it was part of propaganda to paint Nigerian military as incompetent to deal with the insurgency by desperately ascribing recent spate of successes to ‘others’ rather than the gallant troops’ efforts.

The source recalled that only recently, some news agencies ascribed such successes to Cameroonian, Nigerien and “battle hardened” Chadian forces but when it became obvious that the forces of those countries were mainly fighting along their own border areas blocking free movement of terrorists, “it became necessary to look for others” who are helping Nigerians to fight.

PRNigeria gathered that the foreigners spotted in Maiduguri and other areas close to the theatre of wars are technical partners who are helping to train Nigerian forces on how to operate and maintain the recently acquired equipment which came from different sources.

The source further cited the particular example of the maintenance technician, who died recently, insisting that he was not even a combatant but a professional in fixing armoured vehicles.

President Goodluck Jonathan was recently quoted in an interview with Voice of America (VOA) confirming that Nigeria has some trainers helping to get troops well acquainted with the recently acquired weaponry.

According to Jonathan, “we now have this technical people who are trainers and technicians, who are to train our people on how to use them, and technicians that help the maintenance, at the same time training our people how to maintain this equipment,” adding that two companies were involved in the training.