A retired sergeant in the Nigerian Army, Mike Omorege, has called for the sack of security chiefs in the country especially Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, if Nigeria was to win the war against Boko Haram terrorists.
Omorege made the call in an interview with SaharaTV, stating that corrupt military leaders were responsible for the unending battle with Boko Haram and other insurgent groups in the country.
He said, “The truth of the matter is that most of the Nigerian Army senior officers are very corrupt. The Nigerian Army is very good and one of the strongest.
“Anywhere you take Nigerian officers to, they turn the place to business ground where they don’t want things to work out.
“If you want to get the truth, as long as you are interviewing the senior officers, you won’t get the truth, it’s the soldiers on the ground that will tell you what is happening there.
“The Nigerian Army officers don’t want the war to end because they know what they are doing and the business they are doing.”
Calling for the immediate sacking of Buratai, Omorege stated that bringing in a neutral and committed officer to lead the war would definitely result in victory for Nigeria.
He said, “If they want the war to end, let them remove the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, bring in a neutral person that is not up to their rank and tell the person that when you succeed, I’m going to promote you, that person will deliver.
“The soldiers know the officers that burst their morale. When we went to Sierra Leone and Liberia, we delivered the capital and returned it back to the civilian government.
“There’s no big deal in Boko Haram that Nigerian Army cannot succeed.
“The military chief just moved to the North-East because it’s a shame to him seeing the Chadians succeed, they’ve turned the fight to business.
“Check the number of soldiers that have died but the government is not doing anything about it and they are not animals.
“This is because there is no son of minister or governor at the war front.”
Omorege lamented the lack of sophisticated weapons and non-provision of arms for the military at the war front.
He posited that Nigerian Army officers preferred to waste soldiers instead of requesting for better equipment to use.
He attributed the recent victory recorded by the Chadian troops to better ammunition and strategy.
He also highlighted the lack of synergy between the army and the Air Force as one of the reasons why the fight against insurgency was yet to end.
He said, “The major question is this, the relationship between the ground troop, infantry and the Air Force is very bad, that is why they need to change the chief.
“The two troops are not happy with each other, there is also a big difference in their salary mode and all those things add to the issue.
“We have to finish this war to save money, if not they’ll run it in another four to five years, the war will not end, they’ll keep on spending money and lives would be wasted.
“Let the troops on ground decide who they want, they’ll be motivated and happy to fight instead of bringing the lazy ones to lead the soldiers.”
