Two soldiers on Friday disclosed that 10 of their colleagues who allegedly protested against poor feeding, lack of special promotion and poor welfare on the battlefield have been in detention since July 15, 2019, without trial.

They said the detained soldiers attached to the 143 Battalion of the Nigerian Army were inducted into operation Lafiya Dole in Adamawa State on November 30, 2014, and were subsequently advanced to Madagali and Limankara in Borno State.

One of the soldiers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their detained colleagues in the unit which has its headquarters in Madagali, Adamawa State, had allegedly complained about poor feeding in their separate locations within the unit on social media platforms.

The source further said one of the infuriated soldiers wrote an article that was published on another social media platform in which he lamented the alleged inhumane treatment of soldiers on the battlefield by their commanders.

According to the source, the soldiers also complained that they had overstayed in their unit for over four years without rotation as against the two-year rotational principle in the embattled North-East region.

It was learnt that some top Army officers in the unit were not pleased with the revelation, which prompted an investigation into the matter.

“However, on July 15, 2019 when 144 Battalion finally changed the 143 battalions from operation back to their unit as a result of the said articles, the 10 soldiers in the unit were held back and subsequently arrested and accused of masterminding the write-up on the grounds that they had earlier decried their poor feeding in a WhatsApp group,” he disclosed.

It was learnt that the soldiers, who had been under detention in the Battalion’s guardroom at Madagali since their arrest on July 15, had been moved to 7 Division Military Police guardroom in Borno State without trial.

Another military source told Saturday PUNCH that the soldiers might be detained for long without trial considering President Muhammadu Buhari’s mindset towards dissenting voices and criticisms.

See more; http://gistmore.com/our-colleagues-detained-for-protesting-inhumane-treatment-soldiers

Enjoy the same treatment u meted out to we civilian when we protest bad governance