There is palpable uncertainty in the Nigerian Army as President,
Muhammadu Buhari, is said to have ordered the military chiefs to furnish
him with documents detailing how monies released for arms procurement
to fight Boko haram were spent.
The president, Abuja Metro
authoritatively gathered was also said to have ordered the military
hierarchy to make available the records of total amount of money it
received from the federal government to curb the insurgents.
Top
military sources that revealed this development hinted that these and
many other decision were taken after the president met with the service
chiefs comprising of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief
Marshall Alex Badeh, Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General
Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin,
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Adesola Amosu, and the Inspector
General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase.
The source that does not
want to be mentioned said the president may have taken the decision due
to grumbling in the military by some personnel, who feel that their
bosses and other of their colleagues occupying strategic appointments
might have taken advantage of the operations counter terrorism to make
huge money and deny the juniors fighting the war their basic benefits.
This
they insist was not unconnected with the huge amounts released by the
government, while others met their untimely death in the counter
insurgency war.
The sources say many of their colleagues who are
now six feet below, would not have died if those responsible for the
disbursement of funds did so sincerely.
This is seen as being responsible for troops poor morale that makes them not give their best in confronting the terrorists.
The
attitude is said to have discouraged most personnel and officers who do
everything in their powers to avoid being posted to the north region
Our sources said that shortly after President Buhari was declared winner
of the presidential election, top serving and retired military officers
began to bombard him with complaints of misappropriation of fund by the
military authorities and taking advantage of the war to make huge
monies.
The complainants went as far as revealing the names of
some of the officers allegedly involved in the blood money, who no
longer hide the money they make from the operation.
These senior
officer from our findings had nothing before the commencement of the
counter terrorism war, but have suddenly become millionaires overnight
and have acquired choice properties in the Federal Capital Territory and
drive the latest and expensive cars to the detriment of their
colleagues.
According to the source, those that took part in the
deal now run around to gather whatever they can get to make refunds
before nemesis catches up with them.
The source said: “I can
assure you that the president has given them a definite order to produce
the records of how they spent the money allocated to them for the Boko
Haram war, this in in terms of weapons purchase, kits, logistics and
others.
We decided to reach the president on this because a lot
of our officers and soldiers who were not supposed to have died lost
their lives while most of those that were lucky to be alive are now
deformed, while the big bosses, at the expense of the young soldiers
enjoy their ill wealth.”
“Some of us who are aggrieved decided to
use our means to reach the president and tell him how our big men
looted the money meant for the war.
To buttress how bad the
situation degenerated, he revealed that: “Most of our personnel have no
bullet proof jackets, no uniforms, prompting the soldiers to wear all
manner of shades of camouflage. They are poorly fed and most times
denied payment of operation allowances.”
Rather than provide
troops with the things meant for the operations, they claims to receive
condemnation from their commanders instead, and so many have been
prosecuted, thereby dampening their morale.
“Most of our bosses,
see the operation as an avenue to make money and lobby to get posted to
the region,” another source told Abuja Metro.
“Unlike in the past
when soldiers lobbied to go for International Peace Keeping Operations,
because of the foreign currency we made. But people don’t lobby to go
for peace keeping again, what they do is lobby for counter terrorist war
in the north east because the profit is very huge.
“I can tell
you authoritatively that one of our officers that occupied a strategic
position and got killed by Boko Haram had over N90m in his bank account
in one of the new generational banks, and that was just after only about
five months that he got posted there. They are many such officers we
know.
“And that is why we are happy the president, who is also
commander in chief has asked them to make the financial records of the
operations available and not only that, they have been asked to refund
whatever money that they did not spend.”
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