by Anike Jacobs
A new report has surfaced online detailing how ‘unqualified soldiers with the heart of kids’ were recruited to fight the deadly islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has seized many towns and communities in recent months, sacking security facilities and many times the Nigerian soldiers on the battle ground end up fleeing, due to their alleged lack of arms – however a top military boss has revealed otherwise to Premium Times.The revelations follows the ill-fated incident that caught Nigerian Soldiers and their commanders off-guard on the 5th of November, 2014 in Maiduguri.
The terrorists invaded the headquarters of the 174 Battalion, Abadan Local Government Area of Borno State, in hundreds and shot sporadically in all directions, chanting “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar” (May God be praised)….an action that caused the soldiers to flee the scene as it became clear they were less armed and prepared for battle.
The soldiers had to flee to the neighboring Niger after surrendering, throwing away their uniforms and yielding their arms to the terrorists.
One of the soldiers revealed that “They went away with every weapon we had. RPGs, armoured tanks, rifles, ammunition, I mean everything. As we are now, we have nothing. They have gone away with everything. We were simply overpowered. They were far more in number and the weapons they carried were far more than what we had. They could have finished all of us if we hadn’t fled. A lot of us have been here for more than two years without being allowed to see our family,” one soldier said “We were to be here for six months but we have now been abandoned here for two years. We are missing our families and our morale is zero. Some of us are even considering going on AWOL (away without official leave).”
A top military who asked not to be named however blamed the incident on cowardice by soldiers.
He told Premium Times “Initially, they were talking of weapons. But the weapons have started arriving. The problem now is the mentality of our soldiers. A lot of them are just cowards and should not have been recruited into the Army in the first place. The fact is if you don’t have the mentality of a soldier, you can’t fight a battle no matter the sophistication of your arm.”
they never recruit on merit,until they recruit the right one,they wil always fail.
are u sure the commander in chief knows what he is doing at all
All this is as a result of not maintaining the rule in recruitment,Soldier is not for chicking hearted men,it is for the brave and hard men, I remember during Nigeria civil war the Biafran soldiers were armed with dengun, cutlases and the bumb called Ojukwu bucket with this they never run for nigeria soldiers, they with stood the federal might for 3yrs, Our soldiers are always giving excuses can this kind of soldiers defend this country from extenal agrasion, Nigeria military need to go back to the drowing boad before is to late