TheCable

The defence headquarters has described the report that soldiers are not adequately equipped to tackle the ongoing insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country as untrue.

Reacting to a BBC report that an anonymous soldier said about 40 of his colleagues have vowed to resist any attempt to deploy them to strongholds of Boko Haram, the army refuted the claim, stating that its men are brave and disciplined.

“That degree of cowardice is not in the character of a real soldier of the Nigerian Army,” read a statement on the defence website.

“No soldier has been sent on any mission without being armed.  Each soldiers answers for his action in terms of discipline.

“The series of lies contained in the alleged responses of the faceless person referred to as a soldier confirms the whole arrangement as another step of the mischief makers working for terrorists.  Anyone who knows the military reward for mutiny will not join another person to try it.

“The overwhelming majority of the Nigerian soldiers remain as brave and disciplined as ever.  They will certainly not join any renegade, coward, deserter or those trying to incite mutiny in the military to betray the nation at time like this, in a way that impostor told his interviewers.  His claims are false.”

Admitting that the force is undergoing some challenges at the moment, the army stated that “soldiers are not being sent to die. We may not have everything now, but we are improving on weapons and equipment rapidly”.

The military has lost a number of its men during several attacks carried out by the insurgents.