‘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.”