A short clip making the rounds on social media shows a Nigerian soldier making a cry for help while roaming in an unknown location, somewhat like a bush area.

The military officer whose name tag says Musa M. revealed that his colleagues “have run away” and he is “the only one in the bush”.

He prayed to God to save him and protect his life. According to the officer, he has suffered a lot while trying to save his life being a lone soldier in the bush.

Go deeper: The events of the past years have been more heartbreaking than hearts can take.

On Monday, it was reported that a Kaduna-bound train was attacked by terrorists. Eigh Nigerian citizens have been reported to have died in the attack, 41 injured and receiving treatment, and others kidnapped.

The Kaduna government has since released the manifest of the train trip but has not determined who may have been kidnapped in the attack. Though, there are reports the families of the kidnapped Nigerian citizens have been contacted.

In less than 24 hours, a Kaduna train station was attacked, and it completed the cycle that laid out the plan to keep everyone going out of Kaduna. The airport had been attacked earlier, the Kaduna-Abuja road is a death trap, and the Kaduna-Abuja train station has shut down operations.

Insecurity has become bigger than anyone, and there seems to be no political will to resolve the root issues, neither is there a sense that the leadership of the Military has laid out workable strategies to end terrorism in Nigeria.

Musa may get home, but he will have too many stories to tell, especially the particular event that led his colleagues to run away.

Similar events:

In 2014, some 500 Nigerian soldiers fled to Cameroon following a fierce battle with Boko Haram militants in locations around Borno and Adamawa states. The soldiers retreated and sought refuge in Cameroon in what the military authorities later described as a tactical manoeuvre.

In 2019, the Nigerian Army accused one Major and 21 soldiers of fleeing from the scene of a Boko Haram attack and subsequently declared them wanted. The soldiers were declared as deserters bound to face dire consequences if found, Premium Times reported at the time.

A list of those declared wanted included U.A. Nagogo, a major; Mallam Turaki, a staff sergeant; Benjamin Afolabi, sergeant, Christian Nwachukwu, sergeant; Patrick Kosin, sergeant; Awuwa Orin, sergeant; Ibrahim Amodu, sergeant; Nasiru Umar, sergeant; Bello Suleiman, sergeant; Josiah Seth, sergeant and Muazu Nura, sergeant.

Ayodeji Ogunsuji, corporal; Michael Friday, corporal; Wakili Saul, corporal; Akyen Zamani, corporal; Yahaya Abubakar-Doia, lance corporal; Isikuru Venture, lance corporal; Aminu Isiaku, lance corporal; Usman Suleiman, lance corporal; Maigari Markus, lance corporal; Edward Ofem, lance corporal and Adams Shehu, lance corporal, were also declared wanted.

An interview by Vanguard with Soldiers in January 2021 said:

They should provide the soldiers on the front line with full military kits, ranging from boots, camouflage uniform, ballistic helmet, fragmental jackets, night vision goggles, serviceable compass, amongst others as well as basic infantry, platoon and company weapons. Also, soldiers in front line should be rotated out of the battle field after a minimum period of six months interval to avoid battle fatigue or what you call ‘job monotony’ in civil parlance. This aspect is only on paper, but not in practice. It’s only the Navy and the Airforce that seem to keep to such policy.

In February 2022, terrorists from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, took over a military base located in Gamboru Ngala, Borno. According to Sahara Reporters, “some Nigerian soldiers were killed while others fled into the bush”.

Bottomline: Nigerian soldiers are in for one thing: to fight for their country, but when they are under-armed, there is a high tendency that running will happen. Terrorists attack with sophisticated weapons, soldiers should be responding with better weapons.

But, what do we have?