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October 5, 2023
The soldiers shared several photographs showing the abysmal food they were served in their base and lamented the non-payment of their allowances.
The Commanding Officer of the 154 Taskforce Battalion of the Nigerian Army in the Northeast region of Nigeria, Lt. Col. A. A. Buba, has locked up one Corporal Sunday Okediran, for allegedly exposing the poor feeding and other welfare challenges the Battalion had subjected soldiers at the frontlines to, SaharaReporters can report.
SaharaReporters on Monday reported that some soldiers of 154 Taskforce Battalion deployed to fight terrorists in the Northeast region lamented that despite an increment of money earmarked for their feeding allowance, they were being fed poorly cooked rice.
One of the affected soldiers had told SaharaReporters that the Battalion in Ngamdu under the command of Lt. Col. A. A. Buba gave them only bread and tea for breakfast on Mondays and Thursdays, rice for dinners, white rice and stew for Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays “but concussion rice for the remaining week days.”
The soldiers shared several photographs showing the abysmal food they were served in their base and lamented the non-payment of their allowances.
Reacting to the reports, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, ordered that an investigation should be carried out immediately into the soldiers’ claim, noting that the welfare of troops under his leadership takes a premium place amongst other important schemes and considerations.
But on Thursday, a source told SaharaReporters that Lt. Col. Buba on Wednesday morning ordered that Corporal Okediran should be locked up.
The soldier has been locked up in the guard room since Wednesday morning for allegedly being the whistle-blower behind the exposure of how soldiers are poorly fed by the Commanding Officer.
The source said, “I have it on good authority that one Corporal Sunday Okediran has been locked up on the orders of the Commander, Lt. Col. A. A. Buba after he was accused of being the whistle-blower exposing how soldiers are poorly fed.
“He has been locked up in the guard room since yesterday (Wednesday) morning.”