War Against B'Haram: ‘116 soldiers fighting 3,000 B’Haram members’

A Nigerian soldier in the frontline of the battle
against Boko Haram is willing to lay down his
life for his country, but wants the country’s
leaders to first solve the problems of low
manpower, obsolete warfare ammunition and
underwhelming morale of soldiers.
In an interview with BBC , the soldier, whose
name and location were withheld, said he
was
ready to lay down his life for the country but
lamented that the authorities were not doing
enough to boost the morale of the troops.
“If the things I need for battle are provided, I
am
ready to go and fight those idiots,” he said.
“I am ready to fight for my country because I
don’t have any other country. We can defeat
them anytime, but logistics fail, weapons fail,
morale of the soldiers will fail because many
things are wrong.
“Anytime they attack, they must kill us,
because
we don’t have support weapons and we are
usually outnumbered.
“The Boko Haram fighters are many. About
116
soldiers are asked to fight 3,000 people, you
see the problem, how can you fight?
“We once needed reinforcement and they
sent
just 20 soldiers and they (the 20 soldiers)
refused to come because they didn’t have
weapons.
“They (Boko Haram) are using RPG, anti-
aircrafts weapons, many support weapons.
We
have only Kalashnikov and the tanks that we
have been using are since 1976.”
Speaking on the challenges at the battle front,
the soldier accused his senior colleagues of
being insensitive to the plight of their
subordinates.
“Many soldiers die in the (battlefield), there
are
many widows in my barracks; they are
suffering,” he said.
“You die one month, the next month, they
would
stop your salary, the senior men do not think
of
we soldiers. They are thinking of themselves
alone.”
When asked if he agreed that the current
regional force can defeat the sect within six
weeks, he had this to say; “I don’t agree. I
can
look on, but I can’t agree. Things are wrong;
that’s what I am telling you; that’s the truth.”