Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. KTJ Minimah has
confirmed the long held secret that desertion,
acts of cowardice and indiscipline within the
army in the ongoing fight against terrorism
was one of the greatest setbacks in
checkmating Boko Haram insurgency in the
country.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the
third quarterly conference of the COAS, via the
Defence Headquarters twitter handle
@DefenceInfoNG, being a highlight of the COAS
admonition, Minimah said “the rising acts of
indiscipline and unprofessional conduct by
troops was unbecoming and charged
Commanders at all levels to put a stop to it
as the Nigerian Army was a professional
organization.”
He recalled the attempted mutiny by troops in
Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, against
the then GOC 7 Division, Maj.Gen Ahmadu
Mohammed saying, “A few issues needs to be
urgently addressed that have caught my
attention in recent weeks.
Principal among these is the rising acts of
indiscipline and unprofessional conduct by
troops. In this regard, the recent mutinous act
in Maiduguri and reported destruction of
public property in Lagos readily comes to
mind. As a professional army, the conduct of
our troops must be above board at all times”
Blaming it on the fact that most people, who
joined the military in recent times, do so out
of the need for employment and not passion
for military service, Minimah said, “Desertion
is part of warfare. We must accept that since
the era of the Cartagena wars, soldiers had
deserted from battle field. In our own case, we
are doing recruitment now and we are also
receiving presentations from across the
country, from people who want their wards to
be enlisted in the army”.
“But we need to have a thorough recruitment
because mind you, there is high level of
unemployment on ground; most people want
jobs and if that job means joining the army
fine. It is a source of employment.
However, when the reality of the military
service comes, he drops his riffles. So
desertion will continue to be there. We had
desertion in ECOMOG; in the Nigerian Civil war
and now it will continue to be there”.
“Also, acts of indiscipline will continue to be
there but when they are caught, they are
investigated and when they are found
questionable they will face the Court-Martial”.
“Like I said, in a few months time, the war will
be over. But I cannot give you a clear calendar
date because this is war on terrorism. It
cannot be determined in terms of concrete
date”.
On allegations that the army was
underperforming in the war on terror, he said,
“The Nigerian Army is performing. I know the
expectations of the Nigerian citizens but the
expectation is rather too much in haste.
We need some time; we need patience and you
must know we are fighting terrorism. We are
not fighting a conventional war. Nigerian
Army is a conventional and regular army”.
“The terrorist is someone you don’t know. It
may be someone who sold food or fruit to you
in the morning and by the afternoon he is the
terrorist. We are having all that inter-play in
the battle front in the North-East. We have to
be conscious to separate the terrorist from the
law abiding citizens and we also have human
rights to protect”.
“We are fighting Nigerian citizens we are not
fighting foreigners; so caution must be
exercised. I appeal and assure that we will
certainly surmount it but we also need
support from the nation, from all segments of
society and from the people including the
media. And we need patience and time for us
to do it.
We also have the equipment and the FG is
introducing fresh and newer equipment to us
which in a short while hopefully be there for
use”.
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