The wives of the soldiers had taken to the streets on 12 August in Maiduguri to protest what they described as sending their husbands to die at the warfront because they were not being provided with adequate equipment as the servicemen were set to move out of the cantonment. Initial attempt to retake Gwoza had failed as the troops retreated to Maiduguri after the Islamists attacked them, killing scores and taking some of the weapons they abandoned. It was learnt that units of 213 Battalion Task Force and 234 Special Operations Battalion, both based in Mubi, who were involved in that earlier attempt retreated after coming under heavy fire of the insurgents. Some of the officers who led the operations were either killed or captured, according to some reports. But the wives of the soldiers of the 7th Division alleged that military authorities in Abuja and Maiduguri were sending their husbands to fight well-equipped Boko Haram militants with inferior weapons. According to them, the soldiers were not just provided with inferior and ageing weapons, but also limited ammunition. The protesting women also alleged that tanks being deployed to the war fronts were not serviceable.

The women said they got the information from their husbands as the reason why the war against insurgency has dragged on and the military is recording heavy casualties. “He told me that the weapons they were using when he went for peace-keeping made it possible for them to subdue the enemy. He also told me that the Boko Haram insurgency will last for decades if requisite weapons are not provided. Our husbands are always given inferior weapons while the Boko Haram have superior weapons. From all indications, Nigeria’s government is not willing to end this violence,” one of the women, identified as Mrs. Rose Emmanuel, told journalists. Tabitha John, another of the wives of the soldiers, lamented that their husbands were being sent to the war front to fight Boko Haram only to return in body bags: “No weapons for our husbands, no trip to Gwoza or any volatile place. We are tired of burying our loved ones. As you can see, over 300 of us are here (in front of the Giwa Barracks) because we would not allow our husbands to go to Gwoza and get killed.”

John alleged that corpses of soldiers who had gone to battle Boko Haram were brought to Maiduguri from Gwoza and environs for burial the previous Saturday. One of the leaders of the women, identified as Jummai, lamented that before one officer is killed by the terrorists in the battle-front, more than 30 men would have been wasted. This, she said, was not because the soldiers don’t know how to fight but because the authorities have refused to do what is right. “We won’t allow our husbands to be killed because the military authorities have refused to do what is right. On Saturday, dozens of innocent soldiers were buried after they were killed but the authorities only said ‘sorry’ to bereaved wives,” Jummai said. The protest by the soldiers’ wives forced the authorities to shelve the idea of sending soldiers to Gwoza.

In reaction, the military, through its spokesperson, Major General Chris Olukolade, had in a strong statement warned the women not to interfere in military affairs. But it was gathered that the wives of the soldiers may as well be acting at the behest of their husbands.
According to some soldiers, it was not unusual for soldiers to die in combat. But, they quickly noted, when the casualty figures keep increasing, then something must be wrong somewhere. “The major reason we are losing our men in the North-East region is because we are poorly equipped. We always share our experiences with our wives…They know our capacity to fight and they also know our predicament now,” a soldier was quoted as saying in an Abuja-based newspaper in reaction to the protest. “I am not surprised at all because I saw it coming. Whenever we are going out for operation, some of our wives cry, thinking that we would not return and I don’t blame them. Personally, I lost over 30 of my colleagues this year and their wives are now widows,” he said.

After a brazen raid by Boko Haram insurgents on some towns and villages in Borno State early this year, Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State, had also raised an alarm about the state of weapons being used by the militants in comparison to those by Boko Haram. And recently, when he visited President Jonathan after one of such attacks, he said, “Boko Haram are better armed and better motivated than our own troops. It is impossible for us to defeat the Boko Haram.” But this was instantly repudiated by the presidency. Analysts said last week that the recent successes by the insurgents against Nigerian troops are evident that the assertion by the governor and the wives of the servicemen is true. Thus, rather than the death sentence passed on the 12 soldiers, it is contended that it is provision of better weapons and improved welfare that will stop the revolt and desertion by the troops from the warfront, which General Kenneth Minimah, the Chief of Army Staff, had confirmed as becoming alarming in recent times.

This is in tune with claims by residents of towns and villages which have come under the attack of the insurgents that soldiers keeping watch at duty posts in their areas always mysteriously disappeared on the approach of Boko Haram militants to their areas or ran away during confrontation with the extreme Islamists.

In confirmation of this assertion, the military had at another court martial on Wednesday last week sentenced another 15 soldiers who refused orders to report at the war front in Adamawa to four-year jail term each. The soldiers were sentenced at a court martial held at the 23rd Armoured Brigade, Yola.

The convicts were found guilty of insubordination and refusal to face the Boko Haram insurgents in the northern parts of the state.

It was gathered that the convicted servicemen had run away to their cantonment when Boko Haram attacked their duty posts. This, said a source, is against military tradition in which a soldier is expected to obey the last order, thereby committing acts of insubordination by their dodging draft to the war front. He added that soldiers have been deserting their posts only to re-surface later with all manner of tales to justify their absence. This magazine also gathered that other soldiers who have refused to obey lawful orders are on line for court martial in different army formations across the country.