SaharaReporters had on Tuesday exclusively reported that soldiers attached to the 159 Battalion, Geidam (Sector 2), Yobe State, in a letter addressed to President Buhari, the National Assembly, United Nations, African Union and several other organisations, expressed sadness over their long stay in the volatile North-East region, revealing that many of them had been pushed into a state of depression as a result of the situation.
The Nigerian Army has reacted to a petition written by some soldiers to President Muhammadu Buhari where they threatened to leave their duty post after being abandoned and neglected by military authorities.
SaharaReporters had on Tuesday exclusively reported that soldiers attached to the 159 Battalion, Geidam (Sector 2), Yobe State, in a letter addressed to President Buhari, the National Assembly, United Nations, African Union and several other organisations, expressed sadness over their long stay in the volatile North-East region, revealing that many of them had been pushed into a state of depression as a result of the situation.
The soldiers, most of whom had participated in operations in Liberia in the past, disclosed that they are being exploited by insensitive superiors for personal and material gains, according to the report.
Reacting to the report on Friday, Operations Media Coordinator of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Aminu Iliyasu, claimed that the petition was written and sent by Boko Haram terrorists, and not soldiers serving in the North-East.
He said, “It has however, been revealed through reliable intelligence sources that some Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province collaborators and sympathisers who continue to lose out in their unholy activities due to the massive onslaught by troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE were indeed behind the unscrupulous publications. [story_link align="left"]77296[/story_link]
“Nevertheless, more than ever before, Nigerian Army troops and indeed all the entire components of Operation LAFIYA DOLE are committed to wiping out all remnants of the insurgents from Nigerian territory and apprehending their collaborators and sympathisers.”