Army to investigate extortion allegations

The Nigerian Army through its operations spokesperson Col Aminu Ilyasu has assured Nigerians in the northeast war theatre that it would investigate and get to the bottom of the allegation of extortion levelled against its personnel.

In a swift response to the Monday outburst of Governor Babagana Zulum who was at a checkpoint and actually witnessed the extortion spree of some soldiers on the market Maiduguri DAMATURU road, the spokesperson noted that the army will never cover any wrongdoing as such they will investigate the issue.

“The Nigerian Army as a professional and disciplined institution views such allegations seriously, particularly coming from a State Executive.” He noted.

He revealed that “It is on record that, whenever such allegations of troops’ misconduct were made in the past, the Nigerian Army never reneged in conducting thorough investigations to establish them and where any infractions were established against any personnel, appropriate sanctions were applied in line with extant rules and regulations as provided for in the Armed Forces Act CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

“Thus, the Nigerian Army wishes to assure the good people of Borno State and indeed the nation at large that any allegations of misconduct by Nigerian Army troops will be duly investigated and culprits will be dealt with accordingly.

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“However, it is important to unequivocally observe that public outburst, particularly by eminent personalities such as a State Executive, could be counterproductive and indeed capable of reversing the gains recorded so far in the ongoing fight against insurgents and other criminal elements across the nation.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to emphatically reiterate its steadfastness on the protection of lives, properties of all law-abiding citizens as it is committed to wiping out insurgency in the North East and other forms of criminality across the country.

“Additionally, citizens’ continuous support and cooperation are highly appreciated. Any observed misconduct by troops could be reported directly through a toll – free code 193 for immediate remedy.”

The Governor had actually arrived quietly and waited in the long queue for others to go before he crossed and in the process watched as people without the national identity card paid their way through the checkpoint.

The military in a bid to stop foreign agents if ISIs from traversing through the theatre had insisted on people identity themselves before crossing to any part of the country.

This became pertinent because the immigration whose strategic job it was to handle that had only one checkpoint along the Maiduguri Damaturu axis and we’re therefore very ineffective in carrying out the job.

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A military expert who wanted to remain anonymous told the Nigerian Tribune that the only way they could succeed in stopping the foreign fighters is to have massive armed immigration presence at all the major towns along the Maiduguri Damaturu road.

“The borders are not safe so they would surely be endangered if we send our immigration personnel to the borders except if we are going to give them military backup.

” So for now, the only way to nip these paid foreigners in the bud is to increase our immigration presence along the road up to Gashua and Potiskum. That is the only way we will not be corrupting our soldiers who are now forced to do paramilitary duties out of lingering frustration they receive from the persistence of the criminals”

Meanwhile, Governor Babagana Zulum will today visit Jakana which is a major hub of the Boko Haram insurgents who have been battling to shut down Maiduguri from the rest of the world using either Manioc or Jakana.

Jakana and Manioc are two major towns along the Damaturu Maiduguri road where loved ones of the insurgents are secretly kept and are visited in the night when they want to be rest from war fatigue.