Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Nigeria Soldiers Mutiny In Maiduguri: Boko Haram Is Killing Us

It is becoming increasingly clear that something is wrong somewhere, giving the way Boko Haram operates with high level impunity but without commensurate response from our soldiers, Our reporter observed.
Credible sources have confirmed that soldiers from the newly formed 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in the troubled Borno State on Wednesday mutinied in their barracks against their General Officer Commanding, Major General Abubakar Mohammed over their several losses to the deadly Islamic sect.
 The angry soldiers said they have not been provided with adequate weaponry to fight Boko Haram:
“We the soldiers don’t have the kind of arms and ammunition that [Boko Haram] fighters have. So everyday, they kill our men anyhow, but it is never published in the media,” said one source.
Another source also complained that the commanding officers “are too busy ‘eating’ money. "And they do not pay our allowances on time. And once [a soldier dies], nobody knows what happens to his allowances again.”
 Two of the restive soldiers who spoke to Sahara Reporters revealed that numerous soldiers shot sporadically into the air at Maimalari Barracks, which is also home to the Artillery Corps, the Ordinance, as well as army signals in Maiduguri.

The 7th Division was formed only recently as a unit devoted to fighting the war against Boko Haram. General Mohammed was appointed as the GOC in February 2014.

One source revealed that the situation was extremely tense, adding that the GOC escaped by the whiskers as the mutiny by angry soldiers could have degenerated into a personal attack on him.

Our sources said the soldiers became enraged when they saw the bodies of their colleagues ambushed by Boko Haram terrorists in Chibok, a town in Borno State that has spurred global protests over the abductions of schoolgirls by members of the extremist Islamist sect.

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