konknaijaboy | On 21, Aug 2014

A group of soldiers in north-eastern Nigeria is refusing to fight Islamist Boko Haram militants until they receive better equipment, one of the mutineers has told the BBC.

The soldier, who requested anonymity, said at least 40 of his colleagues would refuse orders to deploy.

A defence ministry spokesman said the incident was being investigated.

A state of emergency that was declared in three north-eastern states last year has failed to curb the insurgency.

Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria – and has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.

‘Sacrificing soldiers’

“Soldiers are dying like fowl,” the soldier, who said he and his colleagues were just outside Maiduguri, told the BBC Hausa service.

“The Nigerian army is not ready to fight Boko Haram,” he said, explaining that soldiers were not being given enough weapons and ammunition to take them on.

“Boko Haram are inside the bush, everywhere,” he said “They [senior commanders] are sacrificing soldiers,” he said.

Defence ministry spokesman Gen Chris Olukolade told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that he could not confirm the reports of a mutiny but would investigate.

He denied that soldiers were being “sent to die”.

“We may not have all it takes but we are improving on it [equipment] regularly,” he said.

Source: BBC

Fake Soldier Granted Interview to BBC- Nigeria’s DHQ Denies Sending Unarmed Soldiers On Mission

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Wednesday described the soldier who granted interview to the BBC as an impostor.

A statement issued by the DHQ read, “That degree of cowardice is not in the character of a real soldier of the Nigerian Army. The series of lies contained in the alleged responses of the faceless person referred to as a soldier confirms the whole arrangement as another step of the mischief makers working for terrorists. No soldier has been sent on any mission without being armed. Each soldiers answers for his action in terms of discipline.

Anyone who knows the military reward for mutiny will not join another person to try it. The overwhelming majority of the Nigerian soldiers remains as brave and disciplined as ever. They will certainly not join any renegade, coward, deserter or those trying to incite mutiny in the military to betray the nation at time like this, in a way that impostor told his interviewers. His claims are false.

Certainly soldiers are not being sent to die. We may not have everything now, but we are improving on weapons and equipment rapidly.

#BBC #NigerianArmy

Source: Nigerian Bulletin

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