The soldiers who spoke to SaharaReporters during the weekend, on condition of anonymity over fear of victimisation, lamented acute hunger.
Troops attached to 145 Taskforce Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Damasak, Borno State for Operation Hadi Kai have lamented the alleged misuse of power against their rights by their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel A. O. Olatunji (N/11554).
The soldiers who spoke to SaharaReporters during the weekend, on condition of anonymity over fear of victimisation, lamented acute hunger.
According to them, they are not being properly fed.
They called for the immediate intervention of President Bola Tinubu and military chiefs to address the issue of poor treatment of soldiers on the front lines, sacrificing their lives daily.
Apart from not being given good food, the soldiers lamented that many of their colleagues had been killed by terrorists because the military lacked adequate firepower and equipment to combat the insurgents.
“Our commander, Lieutenant Colonel Olatunji is not capable of being a commanding officer; he’s very dangerous and heartless,” one of the aggrieved soldiers alleged.
“We do go out on foot without support weapons for like 30 to 40 kilometres every day, and there no radios that we can use to communicate from far distance if anything happens which is not supposed to be so.
“We soldiers are sleeping outside the camp every day in the name of ambush without any support weapons and it is even far from the camp. Since this commander took over, we have experienced a lot of casualties, more than before. Almost every day and every week, we are being attacked or killed by terrorists.
“Poor feeding is also our major problem; we only feed on red oil food with bad soup, nothing like groundnut oil at all. Since he took over, soldiers' morale in Damasak has been reduced. We no longer have peace of mind. There is no joy or happiness to do the work.
“They treat us like slaves, they treat us like our lives mean nothing to them. My colleagues and I are pleading with you to help us out and let our leaders hear about how we are suffering.”
Another soldier added, “The casualties that we had since the commander resumed office about three months ago, we never experienced such in the last three to four years.
“We are ready to serve the country with all our strength, but senior army officers are making us suffer.”
Recently, SaharaReporters reported how some soldiers of 154 Taskforce Battalion also 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. Buba gave them only bread and tea for breakfast on Mondays and Thursdays, rice for dinner, white rice and stew for Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays “but concussion rice for the remaining weekdays.”
They shared several photographs showing the 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 by the Director of 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 would a premium place amongst other important schemes and considerations.
The statement read, “The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to a recent claim of poor feeding of troops at the frontline in the North East Theatre of operations.
“It is crucial to point out to the general public that the welfare of troops under the present leadership of the NA takes a premium place amongst other important schemes and considerations as it is one of the vital pillars of the COAS Command Philosophy which is to provide ‘Sound Administration’ in order to ensure a highly motivated force.
“The NA therefore takes these allegations very seriously and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja has directed immediate investigation into the complaints to ascertain its veracity and unravel the circumstances.”