I
have been trying to figure out the reason why the Nigerian military, as
revealed by Amnesty International, would ignore advance warning about
planned mass abduction of the Chibok school girls by Boko Haram. I can
only imagine two possibilities.
First, it is clear and beyond doubt that the terrorists whom our soldiers are sent and expected to combat are equipped with better and more sophisticated weapons than they are.
They therefore, feel like being sent on a suicide mission knowing that they are incapable of matching the intelligence and operational sophistication and capabilities of the terrorists. Second, soldiers in the battle field have often complained that they are short-changed by senior military officers who illegally divert and steal their allowances.
They are therefore, demotivated by poor welfare and inadequate and inferior operational facilities. Many cases in the past have highlighted the recurrent issue of illegal diversion and theft of duty allowances of junior military officers by their superiors. This also happens in the police.
I recall that in April 2009 27 gallant soldiers who were among the 850 members of the 15th Nigerian Battalion of the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission to Liberia between September 2007 and April 2008 were court marshalled for alleged mutiny, purportedly convicted and sentenced to life by a 7-man military court martial which sat at the 323 Army Artillery Regiment, Owena Barracks, Akure, Ondo State.
The offence of the gallant soldiers was that they protested the illegal diversion and theft of their peace keeping allowances by senior army officers.
Although the imprisoned soldiers eventually regained their freedom following pressure from human rights groups’ campaigns and the legal challenge of their unfair trial and torture by military authorities, the case once more highlighted the recurrent issue of illegal diversion and theft of duty allowances of junior mili
First, it is clear and beyond doubt that the terrorists whom our soldiers are sent and expected to combat are equipped with better and more sophisticated weapons than they are.
They therefore, feel like being sent on a suicide mission knowing that they are incapable of matching the intelligence and operational sophistication and capabilities of the terrorists. Second, soldiers in the battle field have often complained that they are short-changed by senior military officers who illegally divert and steal their allowances.
They are therefore, demotivated by poor welfare and inadequate and inferior operational facilities. Many cases in the past have highlighted the recurrent issue of illegal diversion and theft of duty allowances of junior military officers by their superiors. This also happens in the police.
I recall that in April 2009 27 gallant soldiers who were among the 850 members of the 15th Nigerian Battalion of the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission to Liberia between September 2007 and April 2008 were court marshalled for alleged mutiny, purportedly convicted and sentenced to life by a 7-man military court martial which sat at the 323 Army Artillery Regiment, Owena Barracks, Akure, Ondo State.
The offence of the gallant soldiers was that they protested the illegal diversion and theft of their peace keeping allowances by senior army officers.
Although the imprisoned soldiers eventually regained their freedom following pressure from human rights groups’ campaigns and the legal challenge of their unfair trial and torture by military authorities, the case once more highlighted the recurrent issue of illegal diversion and theft of duty allowances of junior mili
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