Attack of Metele: surviving soldiers send SOS to Buhari

Some soldiers who survived Boko Haram's attack on Metele's military formation sent an SOS message to President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to investigate the quality of weapons provided by the military authorities and to save new preventable deaths.

In a video sent to journalists in Maiduguri, the soldiers accused the military authorities of providing them with obsolete weapons, which they say is totally inadequate for dealing with insurgents as part of the ongoing anti-insurgency campaign. in the Northeast.

In the amateur video sequence, the soldiers also laid charges of negligence against the military authorities, resulting in the death of many colleagues during a series of attacks coordinated by the Albarnawi faction of the group Boko Haram in Metele, Guzamala District. from Borno.

Foreign news agencies reported that dozens of soldiers were killed when insurgents attacked the Metele military base on November 18.

In the video, two soldiers, who claimed to be among the survivors of the attack, described the precarious state of the troops and their obsolete equipment that prevented them from repelling the insurgent attack.

These are soldiers sent to die (not fight) on the theater of war by the FG Buhari.

Buratai is probably buying a lot more properties in Dubai as we speak out loud.

This is not acceptable and we should all condemn it.#HonourOurFallenTroops pic.twitter.com/9u0NdibtOE

– Babasola Kuti (@SKSolaKuti) November 23, 2018

The video showed the level of destruction of military equipment and makeshift shelters, while soldiers were loading their bags, apparently preparing to live in the camp.

In the video, the soldiers appealed to President Buhari – they repeatedly asked him – to intervene to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

"See what the Nigerian army did to us, they brought us here. See how they killed our fellow soldiers, they burned them inside the tanks, "said a narrator in the video.

"They use us to make money; Why? Are we not human beings? They can kill soldiers inside a tank; If a rocket-propelled rocket can penetrate the M-RAG vehicle, what about the human being?

"This is the place called" Metele ". It's a place where they (the insurgents) took 40 barrels and these people want to use us. In a week, they killed more than 200 soldiers and now we are 147, they want to waste us here. It's a lie, our blood is not there.

"This is a third world vehicle, a tank made in 1972; and Albarnawi broke everything. They want to use us and we get nothing from them. We want to inform the government of our state.

"Please, the federal government should intervene before the insurgents come to kill us." They laughed at us and said we were zombies, animals, we do not know our rights, we will follow everything order that will be given to us.

Like Jonathan, be ready to concede defeat, insisted Buhari

"We are millennials, most of us are graduates.

Look what they did to this T12 tank. it's obsolete. It was a Czechoslovakian tank from 1983 bought during the Shagari regime. Is it the money that the federal government has provided to procure weapons?

"All the equipment does not work. When he fired two shots, he stopped. All weapons are obsolete and purchased during Shagari (1979-1983).

"We know the money that the federal government gave them but the Nigerian army has turned us into a business".

The Nigerian army confirmed Friday on its Twitter account the attack of the 157 battalion of the Task Force in Metele on November 18, by Boko Haram insurgents.

However, the response of the military authorities, five days later, was incomplete in terms of detail and extent of losses.

The army stated that it had established procedures to report incidents involving its personnel, causing casualties in combat, while respecting the families of gallant soldiers.

He noted that families were the first to be informed before any form of public information so as not to exacerbate their grief if they discovered it from unofficial sources.

"It is sufficient to observe that several social media publications, both on paper and online, have produced false information about the victims and broadcast various old and inaccurate propaganda video footage of the Boko Haram terrorists, alluding to the 157 Task Force Battalion attack. .

"While, it is understandable that such misinformation could spread in this era of frenzy in social media.The false circulation of some of these videos only serves to further propagate the propaganda intent of terrorists, to misinform the population and to present themselves as what they are not?

"Up to now, the situation on the ground is under control, with reinforcing units successfully repelling terrorists and stabilizing the situation.

In his reaction, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his deep shock at the killing of soldiers in the village of Metele by Boko Haram terrorists.

He assured that immediate steps were being taken to ensure that the loopholes that led to the deaths were blocked once and for all.

Reacting to the tragic incident, the president said his administration remained committed and focused on the safety of military personnel and other citizens.

According to President Buhari, "No responsible commander-in-chief would rely on his oars or cross his hands to allow terrorists to endanger the lives of his soldiers and other citizens. Our loyal forces have proven their strength against the terrorists and we are ready to give them all the necessary support in terms of equipment and manpower to succeed in putting an end to the renewed threat. In the coming days, I will engage the army and intelligence leaders in in-depth discussions about the next steps we will take. "

The President noted that the fight against terrorism had taken on a global dimension, which required international collaboration among States facing similar security challenges.

President Buhari reassured Nigerians of his ongoing commitment to security and his efforts to maintain the momentum accumulated in previous notable successes against terrorists.

However, he warned Nigerians against turning national tragedy into political capital, pointing out that members of the armed forces were a family that generally engaged in the security of all Nigerians.

Buhari's Next Level document is a complete disaster – Agbakoba

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