The Nigeria Army has arrested an Army captain and 70 other soldiers for court martial proceedings against them following the mutiny carried out by the soldiers several weeks ago at the Maiduguri Airport which caused embarrassment to the institution of the Nigeria Army.
The Army captain stands accused of leading a mutiny of troops who refused to proceed in redeployment to Gamboru Ngala, a border town in Borno State with Niger Republic and a Boko haram stronghold.
The arrest and impending court martial was ordered by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Yusuf Buratai, who ordered that the troops be subjected to severe military disciplinary action.
According to Vanguard newspapers, the arrested troops had been moved from their main base of operations to secret locations within Maiduguri pending when a date will be fixed for their court martial.
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Several news outlets had reported the disturbance at the Maiduguri airport when the soldiers had not only refused to board their flight to their new zone of operations, but had shot sporadically into the air and threatened to shoot their superior officers also.
Some of the troops complained of battle fatigue having been fighting Boko haram in the North-east for years without relief or rotation.
Several of the troops were also reluctant regarding their new posting because they loathed the idea of being sent into battle against Boko haram in terrain they were not familiar with.
Also because many of their colleagues who had been sent ahead of them into the new theatre of operations had either died horribly or were severely injured and their equipment stolen by Boko haram mainly due to bad weather as well as insufficient fighting platforms.
According to several of the soldiers who had craved anonymity;
“We became afraid when we discovered that no fewer than 30 soldiers who were sent there were killed within three days due to the heavy rainfall, which has further worsened the terrain mastered by the insurgents.
We do not know why the Nigerian Army suddenly changed its mind and decided to deploy troops to the dreaded area after it had announced that it had pulled out of Gamboru, where Boko Haram appears be operating from after being pushed away from the Sambisa Forest.”
The Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai had however described the mutiny as unacceptable for a disciplined institution like the Nigeria Army.
The COAS said;
“The incident at the Maiduguri airport that happened just about two weeks ago is an issue, which ordinarily is unimaginable, that disciplined troops, soldiers will behave in that way.
But we have our procedures and this issue has been thoroughly investigated and those that have been found to be involved will face military justice. This sort of affairs will never be tolerated no matter the person or persons involved.”
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