₦airaland Forum

The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has again lampooned Nigerian soldiers for allegedly failing to curb Boko Haram and other security challenges that have dogged the country for so many years.

Mr Buratai accused soldiers of displaying a poor commitment to defend the country in almost every task they had been assigned, a situation he described as “unfortunate” and responsible for sparse promotion in the military rank-and-file.

“It is unfortunate, but the truth is that almost every setback the Nigeria army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks,” Mr Buratai said at a military-organised event in Abuja on Tuesday.

The alleged laziness of soldiers could also be traced to “simply insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by those at the frontlines,” Mr Buratai was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Mr Buratai’s comments came as Nigerian soldiers and commanders were being killed in the Boko Haram war, which has now entered its 10th year. At least two lieutenant colonels have lost their lives to Boko Haram ambush over the past one month, with at least 50 soldiers also killed and even more missing in action within the same time.

Most of the personnel losses have come from attacks on military bases in the North-east, a strategic shift that Boko Haram has not backed down on since launching it last July. Although the insurgents still occasionally target civilians, invasion of military bases has become more regular in their brutal campaign.

As President Muhammadu Buhari faced calls to sack his military chiefs for their alleged incompetence in the face of worsening insecurity, Mr Buratai has blamed soldiers on the frontlines for the Boko Haram scourge.

Last August, Mr Buratai tackled military commanders and soldiers in the Boko Haram war, accusing them of cowardice in a memo obtained by PREMIUM TIMES. The army chief said soldiers were abandoning their positions in the face of Boko Haram firepower, an act he said should ordinarily demand court-martial of suspected personnel.
At times, the army chief would implement abrupt shuffling of postings in a bid to strengthen the military’s grip on the war.

Still, Mr Buratai alleged a widespread dereliction of duty amongst soldiers.

“Many of those on whom the responsibility for physical actions against the adversary squarely falls are yet to fully take ownership of our common national or service cause,” the army chief said.

He promised to continue to deprive officers of promotion unless for a few who display an exemplary commitment to national service.

After Mr Buratai castigated the troops as cowards last year, some commanders told PREMIUM TIMES the army chief was being dishonest and desperate to divert attention from his own gross incompetence and corruption.

The commanders pointed to several years of complaints about inadequate food and equipment supplies, some of which had led to a near-fatal confrontation with military chiefs. Scores of military personnel, including Enitan Ransom-Kuti, a brigadier-general, have been court-martialled for alleged mutiny in the Boko Haram war.

In December 2016, some soldiers attempted to lynch Victor Ezeugwu, the then commander of Nigerian Army 7 Division headquartered at Maimalari cantonment, after he left them on the battlefront for two days without food supplies.

In November 2017, soldiers on the battlefront told PREMIUM TIMES they were enduring weeks without allowances, which they had long decried as inadequate considering the assignment they were being given.

The rising suicides amongst soldiersinvolved in the Boko Haram war have also been linked to poor welfare.

The Armed Forces Act permits soldiers to abandon duty if there is no water, logistic support, absence of hope or relief on the frontlines.

Security analyst, Chris Ngwodo, urged Mr Buratai to focus on improving soldiers’ welfare, rather than openly castigating them in the face of an insurgency whose end remains difficult to predict.

In saner climes, Buratai should have been a pensioner by now...

Useless criminal

The soldiers know what they up against
The elite northerners are the boko haram
Buhari is boko haram
Tukur Buratai is boko haram

Is python now powerless?



If you are from east and die for nigeria,you died for nothing.

The only Boko Haram I know is Fulani certificateless General from Daura

There is something very weak with your Directives to the Soldiers.. Give them relevant and reasonable orders, they will perform.
Apply Udi Formula in some places, revoke Amnesty to Bokoharam and destroy at sight Bokoharam and Fulani migrant Herdsmen seen and caught.

Are Military Bases now "soft targets" according to that liar?

An incompetent workman blames his tools.

orisa37:
There is something very weak with your Directives to the Soldiers.. Give them relevant and reasonable orders, they will perform.
Apply Udi Formula in some places, revoke Amnesty to Bokoharam and destroy at sight Bokoharam and Fulani migrant Herdsmen seen and caught.

The Buruntai idiot is as incompetent as they come.

Imagine a General of the Army castigating his own troops and exposing their deficiencies publicly!

In sane climes, this Buffon would have been stripped off his ranks, court-martialed, convicted for treason and jailed for life.

A bad workman blames his tools


Buhari is a failure who appoints fellow failures into sensitive positions..


Only fools support this cow government

Imagine what Buratai is telling thess poor troops. Is everyone in the position under position of authority in this government under a curse of the blame game?

This Soldier is a Herdsman and a privileged Terrorist.

What are you going to do about it?

Buhari is an illiterate terrorist incompetent charlatan bastard burukutu sipping gorilla
Thunder scatter Buhari Insha'Allah amin
Thunder scatter Buhari Insha'Allah amin
Thunder scatter aisha masha Allah amin


useless gworo chewing terrorist old hag nonentity bastard kunu drinking demon

Spits

I hope they will not suddenly start isolating Southern and Christian soldiers for the supposed lack of commitment to northern madness national issues. I would not be surprised...

The Dog is blaming his Tail for not biting.

& yet some people hailed PMB for extending the appointment of this failure...

Exactly. They are themselves Bokoharam. They are reclaiming their lands in the North East for another round of Randsome.

Nigeria is sinking further and further. Even Nigeria Army is struggling like this. Na wao! Too much corruption, incompetence and vested interests is killing the nation.