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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has vowed to probe a viral video online by a young soldier which described the Maiduguri Command as a business centre for diversion of funds in the guise of fighting insurgency.
The visibly angry soldier, accused the senior military officers of cornering the allowances of soldiers and serving them poor meals not good enough to serve to dogs.
Speaking to Pointblanknews.com exclusively on the allegations, the Minister promised to immediately look into all issues raised by the soldier. He stated, “I’m going to meet with the Military Chiefs on the matter. We shall investigate the matter as soon as possible. I promise to take immediate actions that will boost the confidence and morale of the soldiers.”
The soldier further accused the officers of making returns of “over N20 million to certain quotas so as to enable them retain their postings.”
In his opening statement, the soldier described one Lt. Col. A. Manu as being irresponsible, exclaiming, “Manu, you are a useless human being. You’re a useless officer. I’m sending this video today to the Chief of Army Staff, to the Chief of Defence Staff, to the Presidency. Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Manu is under your command, see how he is enslaving soldiers, see how he is misbehaving.”
While displaying what could be seen in the viral video as a plate with cooked jollof rice in it, he stated, “See the kind of food he’s serving soldiers, Chief of Defence Staff, you, can you eat this food? Colonel Manu, can you eat this food, can your dog eat this food?” he asked.
He continued, “You are killing cow for 570 soldiers under your care, four pieces of meat for each person in a month. Even a peasant farmer in the village cannot eat four pieces of meat in a month. Even a beggar on the street eats better than us. Shame on you.
“You know what you are doing. All the commanding officers under the command, you people know what you are doing. When you do all these sharp practices, you send money to the higher commands, you send money to the theatre. I know you also send money to all the GOCs, you are not the only ones sharing it amongst yourselves.
“This is how I know that you people have been using our money to make a contribution of N20 million to send to the Commander who is commanding the whole location Maiduguri, including the seventy (70) GOCs and the theatre Commander.
“Look at the food they cook for soldiers, no meat except on Sundays when we are given one small piece of meat each amounting to four pieces of meat every month. Heartless commander, heartless and criminal commander that is what you are. You people are rebellious to soldiers,” he exclaimed.
Meanwhile, the fearless soldier said he will continue to call out their commanders over the ill-treatment meted out to the younger soldiers.
“I will continue to talk until you people change. I will continue to speak up until I see changes, no one can intimidate me. One day the soldiers will get angry and face you people (the commanders). When that time comes, no one will be able to stop the angry soldiers.
“It’s unfortunate that they are still respecting that outdated armed forces law which says no one should speak up no matter what they are going through. That’s the reason why most soldiers are afraid, as for me, I’m not afraid of anyone, they can come for me. Lt. Col Manu you can come for me, I said you are a criminal.”
The rebellious soldier also accused the federal government and the National Assembly of “silence” despite the fact that “they know what is going in the military circle.”
He also claimed that the anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) “are afraid of probing the army.”
He elaborated, “I know that the National Assembly and the Federal Government are not ready to call you people to order. The Senate and the House of Representatives are not ready to call you people and investigate you.
” The EFCC, the ICPC and even the judiciary is afraid of army generals. That’s why they refused to call you people to order. They are seeing my videos. They are afraid to call you people to order because they feel you people will come after them and kill them. You people want to spoil the country but people like us will stand against it.
“If nothing is hastily done, one day Nigeria will become bloody. We call on Nigerians to come to the rescue of the soldiers because they are not happy with the situation they are facing especially those of them combating insurgency and terrorism. Everyday in Maiduguri (Borno State) a soldier dies.
There’s hardly a day that passes by that at least a soldier will not die. Yet they don’t get to receive their benefits, their allowances. It is their commanders that steal their monies. While government disburses money for the welfare of the soldiers, the commanders divert the monies into private pockets. Maiduguri has become a business center for Nigeria Army Officers.”