There is palpable uncertainty in the Nigerian Army as President, Muhammadu Buhari, is said to have ordered the military chiefs to furnish him with documents detailing how monies released for arms procurement to fight Boko haram were spent.
The president, Abuja Metro authoritatively gathered was also said to have ordered the military hierarchy to make available the records of total amount of money it received from the federal government to curb the insurgents.
Top military sources that revealed this development hinted that these and many other decision were taken after the president met with the service chiefs comprising of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Adesola Amosu, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase.
The source that does not want to be mentioned said the president may have taken the decision due to grumbling in the military by some personnel, who feel that their bosses and other of their colleagues occupying strategic appointments might have taken advantage of the operations counter terrorism to make huge money and deny the juniors fighting the war their basic benefits.
This they insist was not unconnected with the huge amounts released by the government, while others met their untimely death in the counter insurgency war.
The sources say many of their colleagues who are now six feet below, would not have died if those responsible for the disbursement of funds did so sincerely.
This is seen as being responsible for troops poor morale that makes them not give their best in confronting the terrorists.
The attitude is said to have discouraged most personnel and officers who do everything in their powers to avoid being posted to the north region Our sources said that shortly after President Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election, top serving and retired military officers began to bombard him with complaints of misappropriation of fund by the military authorities and taking advantage of the war to make huge monies.
The complainants went as far as revealing the names of some of the officers allegedly involved in the blood money, who no longer hide the money they make from the operation.
These senior officer from our findings had nothing before the commencement of the counter terrorism war, but have suddenly become millionaires overnight and have acquired choice properties in the Federal Capital Territory and drive the latest and expensive cars to the detriment of their colleagues.
According to the source, those that took part in the deal now run around to gather whatever they can get to make refunds before nemesis catches up with them.
The source said: “I can assure you that the president has given them a definite order to produce the records of how they spent the money allocated to them for the Boko Haram war, this in in terms of weapons purchase, kits, logistics and others.
We decided to reach the president on this because a lot of our officers and soldiers who were not supposed to have died lost their lives while most of those that were lucky to be alive are now deformed, while the big bosses, at the expense of the young soldiers enjoy their ill wealth.”
“Some of us who are aggrieved decided to use our means to reach the president and tell him how our big men looted the money meant for the war.
To buttress how bad the situation degenerated, he revealed that: “Most of our personnel have no bullet proof jackets, no uniforms, prompting the soldiers to wear all manner of shades of camouflage. They are poorly fed and most times denied payment of operation allowances.”
Rather than provide troops with the things meant for the operations, they claims to receive condemnation from their commanders instead, and so many have been prosecuted, thereby dampening their morale.
“Most of our bosses, see the operation as an avenue to make money and lobby to get posted to the region,” another source told Abuja Metro.
“Unlike in the past when soldiers lobbied to go for International Peace Keeping Operations, because of the foreign currency we made. But people don’t lobby to go for peace keeping again, what they do is lobby for counter terrorist war in the north east because the profit is very huge.
“I can tell you authoritatively that one of our officers that occupied a strategic position and got killed by Boko Haram had over N90m in his bank account in one of the new generational banks, and that was just after only about five months that he got posted there. They are many such officers we know.
“And that is why we are happy the president, who is also commander in chief has asked them to make the financial records of the operations available and not only that, they have been asked to refund whatever money that they did not spend.”