Soldiers in the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army at
Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri on Thursday, May 22,
2014 mutinied against their new general officer
commanding (GoC), Brigadier General M.Y. Ibrahim.
Sahara Reporters reports:
Several sources in the barracks told
SaharaReporters that the soldiers' second act of
mutiny in two weeks began around 3:00 p.m.
(Nigerian time). The angry soldiers blew a whistle,
and most of the rank and file gathered at a spot
before they marched en masse to the 7th Division
headquarters building where the GOC's office is
located.
The sources said the sources shot in the air as
they marched and chanted "We no gree oh, we no
gree!" Our sources said the protesting soldiers were
upset about the army's failure to pay their
outstanding allowances. They were also annoyed
by the decision of the newly posted GOC to ban
motorcycles as a form of transport within the
barracks. The new GOC reportedly banned
motorbikes known as Okada and tricycles known
as "Keke NAPEP" from operating within the vast
barracks. The soldiers wondered why the new
commander would prohibit the use of the only
affordable means of transport they have when he
knows full well that the base covers a huge area
and that few soldiers own cars or bike.
"If no okada [motorcycles] are allowed, then our small
children have to walk to school and our wives will walk
to market," one of the soldiers told SaharaReporters.
"Are we not suffering too much already?" he added.
Once they arrived at the GOC's office, the protesting
soldiers decided to give him a dose of the experience of
navigating within the barracks without motorcycles.
They ordered Major General XYZ to come outside the
building, pushing and shoving him. Then they forced
him to trek all through the barracks.
The angry soldiers also demanded the payment of their
N100, 000 furniture allowance which, according to
them, was long overdue.
Last week, frustrated soldiers at the same barracks
demonstrated and shot at the car of their erstwhile
GOC, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed. The soldiers
felt that General Mohammed's operational orders were
responsible for the death of close to 100 soldiers who
were returning from an operation in Chibok, the town
where members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram,
kidnapped 276 high schoolgirls near midnight on April
14. The abduction of the girls, who remain missing,
has sparked outrage in Nigeria and around the world.
Military authorities in Abuja decided to remove Major
General Mohammed a day after the first mutiny.
One of the soldiers who spoke to SaharaReporters
stated that he and his colleagues want military
authorities to be more focused in their approach to the
war against Boko Haram. "We can finish them [Boko
Haram] without difficulty, but the commanders don't
give us enough weapons for operations. And they send
only a few of us to fight hundreds of Boko Haram
fighters," he said.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, has been the
flashpoint of numerous bloody attacks by Boko Haram
