Soldiers Mutiny

Soldiers Mutiny: Nigerian Army To Start Investigation

15 May, 2014

The Nigerian Army will investigate a mutiny that occurred on Wednesday in military barracks in Maiduguri.

Nigerian soldier. Credit: BBC

This was disclosed by the army spokesperson Major General Christ Olukolade.
He said the inquiry will be on "the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers who fired some shots while the General Officers Commanding was addressing troops in Maimalari cantonment Maiduguri."
Two soldiers told SaharaReporters that some soldiers of the 7th Division shot sporadically into the air at the Maimalari Barracks when they were being addressed by their General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Abubakar Mohammed.
Olukolade said that the incident occurred right after the corpses of four soldiers killed in an ambush on their way back from patrol duties in Chibok were being conveyed to the morgue.
A 'reliable source' told Premium Times, however, that not four but 12 soldiers perished in the ambush. According to the source, the angered soldiers opened fire on the vehicle of the GOC. The military dismissed this version of the events as an "unfounded rumour".
The 7th Division was established two months ago specifically for combating Islamist insurgents Boko Haram. GOC Major General Mohammed was appointed in February.
The reason for the mutiny among the soldiers is believed to be the lack of adequate weaponry, delay in payment of allowances, and discontent with the troops rotation system that makes it very hard for soldiers to be redeployed and take a break from exhausting war against 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," a source told Sahara Reporters. Another source said 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."