by Mid-December 2016, soldiers of the 21 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, deployed to Sambisa forest to deal a final blow to Boko haram terrorists went berserk, firing shots into all directions, threatening to kill any officer that stood on their way.
“The brigade is based in Bama but is currently deployed at Bula Bello in Sambisa for Operation Rescue Final. But suddenly soldiers started mutinying at 6AM today, firing in all directions and threatening to pull out of the operation.
As some of them fire gunshots, some started preparing vehicles to move out of location. They also warned officers to steer clear or they would be shot dead. They are saying their commanders have been treating them badly and telling them lies. As I speak to you, the firing is still going on, and there is confusion everywhere,” a military insider had said.
The Army denied the report in an interview in Maiduguri.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezegwu, said: “I want to assure that nothing like mutiny happened in Bama. Nothing happened. I just came back from Bama and nothing like that happened.”
However, a video published by PREMIUM TIMES showed that the protest actually occurred.
According to the report, the video was recorded immediately after the protest, and it shows a superior officer, holding a swagger stick and wearing a bulletproof vest, who beckoned on “any witness” of the revolt to speak.
“For you now, I know your problem. I know your feeling. For the fact that you have been here. And you have been on this. For that alone, It is stressful. Even me, I’m stressed. So you cannot now because of that anger, you will not be able to articulate your problem. But I will give you the opportunity.Just calm down and let me know the major problem,” the officer told the soldiers.
One of the soldiers stood up to speak, and lamented how they are being maltreated.
“Let me just tell you the truth. Each time when we want to go for operation they will not tell us how long we are going to stay for the operation. They will keep deceiving us, on almost all the occasions we end up fighting before we leave the operation.
Now we are advancing, there is no food to eat. Every day, they give us two Indomie (sachets of instant noodles); that is what we eat. How would you survive with two Indomie? And there is no water. As I speak to you this the eighth day that I have not taken my bath, no water to drink, nothing.
We were told we are going to go and hit Camp Zero, that after hitting Camp Zero that will be all for us. We went up to Chibiya and spent about six days and seven days and after everything we are supposed to go to Camp Zero and all our vehicles and equipment have developed faults.
The army is supposed to come and take us away from that place, fix those vehicles and we are ready to fight; because as I speak to you 80 per cent of the vehicles are not good,” the soldier said.