Why The Condemned Soldiers Must Be Freed

The 54 soldiers condemned to death

The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd), shocked the nation on Thursday, 30 July, 2015 when he bemoaned the decrepit state of the Nigerian military. His revelation that he headed an armed forces that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy (Boko Haram terrorists) that was invisible and embedded with the local populace has since stirred the hornet’s nest, especially coming at a time much havoc has been done by the terrorists in terms of thousands of people killed, hundreds kidnapped, homes, schools and churches destroyed in the Northeast.

Badeh, who was appointed Chief of Defence Staff by former president Goodluck Jonathan on 16 January, 2014, possibly felt that by making such a belated revelation, Nigerians would praise him for speaking out. But he got it wrong because he told the whole world in January this year that the Nigerian military was well equipped to rout Boko Haram even when it was obvious that the insurgents had a far more superior firepower to take on his men.

His excuse that the decision of certain countries to deny Nigeria weapons to prosecute the war against Boko Haram, added to the challenges the military faced also rings hollow. It holds no water. Badeh also blamed others for his colossal failure as Chief of Defence Staff. He said a section of the media as well as the political class exploited a serious national security issue to gain political mileage and that the activities of fifth columnists in the military and other security agencies who leaked operational plans and other sensitive military information to the terrorists combined to make the fight against the insurgents particularly difficult.

He also spoke pitifully about the neglect of the military over the years as it was under-equipped to ensure the survival of certain regimes, while other regimes, based on advice from some foreign nations deliberately reduced the size of the military.

Did he just wake from his slumber to realise that the military’s wings were deliberately clipped by poor funding?

What this startling revelation means is that Badeh deliberately led an ill-equipped military that allowed Boko Haram terrorists to massacre thousands of Nigerians in the Northeast.

His former principal, ex-president Goodluck Jonathan also has a case to answer regarding the genocide in the Northeast states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, for poorly equipping the Nigerian Army.

When the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima cried out several times that Boko Haram fighters were better equipped than the Nigerian Army, Jonathan rebuffed him and threatened to withdraw soldiers from the state during a Presidential Media Chat, a live programme on NTA. Now the governor has been vindicated.

Badeh’s confession is too grave to be swept under the carpet. To get to the root of the matter, President Muhammadu Buhari should set up a National Judicial Commission of Enquiry. There should be a probe of what led to the poor funding of the military by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in the fight against Boko Haram.

After pooling the wool over the eyes of Nigerians about the ability of the military to conquer the insurgents, we are now being assailed by this totally different and depressing tale.

We, just as other Nigerians, are disappointed with Badeh over his belated confession and feel he should be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court. He should be charged with crime against humanity for deliberately allowing thousands of Nigerians to be killed under his watch without telling the Federal Government that the military lacked equipment to fight Boko Haram.

This same Badeh in October 2014 defended the death sentence passed on 12 soldiers who had fled an encounter with Boko Haram insurgents because they lacked the weapons to fight. It was the same month that he was humiliated when his hometown, Vimtim in Adamawa State, was captured by Boko Haram.

Badeh’s confession is also a sufficient ground to free all the soldiers tried for mutiny for refusing to fight Boko Haram. When the soldiers complained about lack of equipment to fight, Badeh and other top military officers said they were lying. Now we know who was lying all along. The story now told by Badeh has also vindicated the hapless soldiers wrongly dismissed, tried and sentenced to death. Apart from prosecuting Badeh, he should be made to account for the trillions of naira budgeted for defence under his watch.