A documentary shared yesterday on the official Facebook page of Al Jazeera showed a man who claimed to be a Nigerian soldier attached to the 3rd armored division training in bathroom slippers and in mufti at the Nigerian Army Training Center in Katangura, Niger state. According to the whistleblower, he is one of the recently reinstated soldiers who was fired by Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for refusing to fight Boko Haram. However he preferred remaining anonymous, refusing to reveal his identity for fear of being penalised.
He said: “How can someone be training with his bathroom slippers? How could someone be training in his ordinary clothes? None of us having rifle. None of us having uniform. Majority of soldiers are hungry.“I believe the government released the money but it is unfortunate that some people have decided that that is the only way of making their million,”
Responding promptly, the Chief of Army staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai explained that it was not compulsory for soldiers to train in their military gear.
“You don’t have to always train in your uniform. The ethics is been dispatched to their units for them to be relocated and to be rearmed,” he said