Throwback: How Nigerian soldiers died due to bad military leadership
The Nigerian military demonstrated a major administrative ineptitude that led to needless deaths of the country’s soldiers deployed to battle Boko Haram in terror-torn northeast, a source with family members serving in the military told NewsroomNG.
Although convention demanded soldiers deployed to battle the insurgents be relieved after a period of six months, the failure of the army hierarchy to do the needful left troopers trapped in the war zone until they are either maimed by hostiles’ shells or killed in action.
The source said it was this ineffectiveness, and some other factors, that led to the death of Lieutenant Mayowa Areago who was killed by Boko Haram, November 12, 2014.
“He wasn’t supposed to be there,” our source said.
“He was deployed there in 2013 and spent over a year without enjoying the six-month relief. He could even have died earlier in the year when insurgents attacked his men. They were outgunned and had to run on foot for three days till they got to Cameroon where the soldiers there rescued them from the terrorists.”
“After that ordeal, the army hierarchy wanted to court-marshal the soldiers because they couldn’t present their rifles. Areago defended his own men and presented evidence some of them had to ditch their guns while they ran for their lives. They ran because they were ill-equipped.”
The incident he alluded to occurred in August, 2014 when 480 Nigerian troops reportedly fled to Cameroon. The military denied the incident and called it “tactical maneuver.”
The source said the inefficiency of the Nigerian Army at proper administration is one of the reasons for the reported low morale that plagued the soldiers when Goodluck Jonathan was president.
“There is a new slang in the military now,” the source said.
“You no fit leave if you no collect (sic),” he said. The statement means only soldiers who are killed in action or injured in the crossfire can leave the front. The laxity runs in sharp contrast to international standards.
In the United States for instance, there is a deployment cycle which ranged from pre-deployment and regular military training, to actual deployment, to post-deployment, and then to re-integration with family and society. The cycle is then repeated.
Security experts say such regime allows for troop freshness and resultant high morale.
Our source said inefficient implementation of that system is downing morale among troops who do not want to leave the front in a body bag or with a limb chopped off.
“They even prefer to die than get injured because a lot of the wounded are abandoned and they become forgotten heroes,” he said.
That was a picture of Nigeria’s military under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It’s unclear if the same administrative failure continues under current military chief Tukur Buratai appointed by current president Muhammadu Buhari..
