Army debunks secret burial of 1, 000 soldiers in Maiduguri

.Says report baseless, false, mischievous, smear campaign to lower troops’ morale

.PDP demands NASS inquest, berates Presidency for politicising security issues

By Andrew Orolua & Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Nigerian Army on Friday said that the report and claims by The Wall Street Journal that bodies of 1, 000 soldiers were buried secretly in Maimalari Military Cemetery, Maiduguri, Borno State are baseless and intended to smear the good image of the army and lower the moral of troops.

The Defence Headquarters on Thursday had also dismissed the claims and story written by Joe Parkinson and published in The Wall Street Journal of July 31, 2019.

Parkinson in the report claimed that the “operational command holds the bodies of 1, 000 soldiers killed since the terror groups began offensive last summer.”

However, a statement signed by the Deputy Director Public Relations, Operation Liafa Dole, Col. A.D. Isa, described the report as mischievous and unbelievable, merely meant to smear the good image of the army and weaken the morale component of troops in the ongoing counter -terrorism and counter insurgency operations.

Col. Isa stated that in light of all the claims in the mischievous report, he on behalf of the Nigerian Army wish to respond as follows; that the “Maimalari Military Cemetery is the only recognised place where burials are held in the theatre. The stretch of land where the cemetery is located and belongs to the Nigerian Army, and not taken over from any person or group of persons as claimed.

“This area like in other armies is secured to honour and give recognition to the sacrifices of officers and soldiers who paid the supreme price by laying down their lives for the peace, security and unity of the country. In our own case, a hall of fame was also built in the cemetery to honour the fallen heroes and act as reference point for posterity.

“Burial procedure in the Nigerian Army is entrenched in the administrative policies and procedures. The procedure is triggered by first notifying the higher headquarters and next of kin of the deceased personnel for coordination. It is a command responsibility and attended by officers and soldiers of the unit within the theatre of operations. The timings for all burials in the theatre have always been before the flags are lowered in the evening.

“Maimalari cemetery is partitioned into two to accommodate Christians and Islam faithful. The graves are also partitioned and grave pegs placed to mark each grave. Hence, the claim that soldiers were buried in unmarked graves at night in secret graves is unfounded.

“Suffice to state that all deceased are also honoured with the 21- gun salute in line with the ethics and traditions of the Nigerian Army. As such, one wonders how the firing could be done in secret contrary to Nigerian Army traditions.

“Certainly, commanders on their own cannot carry the corpses to the cemetery without the knowledge and support of the troops. If this is done with the awareness of the troops, certainly it would not have been a secret. Likewise, if not done with their knowledge, the commander on his own would not be able to drive the vehicle, carry the corpses, dig the graves and also bury the bodies without any support.

“Thus, this allegation is not only worrisome, but also questionable, more especially, when we have the governor, service chief, principal staff officers from service headquarters, commanders, next of kin, families and members of the press that do attend funeral ceremonies of fallen heroes.”

On the allegation that the Federal Government last summer stopped reporting the deaths of soldiers in its fight against the Boko Haram insurgents, Col. Isa said it is also disturbing, adding that generally, events and lessons learnt from battles have shown that death in combat is inevitable.

“In as much as the Nigerian Army tries to reduce casualties in the battle against the insurgents, it still happens as one of the hazards of war. Obviously, when such occurrences happen, it is made known to higher headquarters to trigger burial procedures and processing of benefits. This is also done with the consent of the next of kin and not in the secret.

“Soldiers also move in pairs or in groups, as such one wonders how the corpses could be isolated without the knowledge of their colleagues, which would have dampened their morale to fight or take orders from their superiors.

“The claim that the operational command holds the bodies of 1, 000 soldiers killed since the terror groups began offensive last summer is just unbelievable. The questions are where, when, why and for what reason would 1, 000 bodies be kept in the hide without anyone seeing them or perceiving the smell. Curtaining, this allegation further buttresses the fact that the writer intends to smear the good image of the Nigerian Army and the government.

“The report that one Mercy Tamuno, who demanded to see where her husband was buried and said she was led to a spot marked with a plastic bottle with her husband’s name written on it is again unbelievable.

“Interestingly, 13NA/70/9866 Lance Corporal Adah Tamuno, whose wife, Mrs. Mercy Tamuno claimed her husband was buried in the secret grave gave a false report. The late gallant (soldier was serving with 119 Tank Force Batallion at Metele and died during combat. He was officially buried on November 29, 2018 at the Maimalari Military Cemetery with proper military honours by daylight with the grave well marked, not with a plastic bottle, alongside his colleagues.

“The last burial in the theatre was that of Capt. A. Mohammed, who was killed on July 17, 2019 in an ambush alongside with Col. E.E. Elemele and five others along Jakana-Benisheik. The captain was buried on July18, 2019 at the Maimalari Military Cemetery in accordance with Islamic rites. The burial was attended by the families of the deceased and other sympathizers.

“The writer made some derogatory comments on rotation of troops, gruesome punishments to suspected jihadists and declining morale of troops. Suffice to state that the Nigerian Army has a standing policy on the rotation of troops in the theatre.

“The last rotation of de-inducted troops was conducted on July 28, 2019 and the troops are currently at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji undergoing de-induction training. The next batch of troops to be inducted are already at the Nigeria Army Special Forces Training School at Buni Yadi for induction training, after which they would be moved to the theatre for deployment,” the statement added.

Col. Isa disclosed that the pictures of the rotated troops are also available and stated that in terms of the gruesome punishments to captured insurgents, one wonders why the writer decided to contradict himself in the article by not reporting the immoral activities of the insurgents.

He declared that “the Nigerian Army is a professional army and captured insurgents are treated in line with global best practices and in accordance with international humanitarian laws. Above all, the morale of troops in the theatre remains high and not as reported.

“It is obvious that the essence of the report is to distract troops from maintaining the tempo in the ongoing operations” and advised the public to disregard the allegations as written by Joe Parkinson and published by The Wall Street Journal.

According to him, the army remains resolute in its fight against the insurgents and will never be distracted by media propaganda, insisting that the threat to national security requires that all hands be on deck to win the war against terrorism and insurgency.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Assembly to immediately open an inquest into the shocking report by the Wall Street Journal, over the secret burial of 1, 000 Nigerian soldiers, allegedly killed in the anti-insurgency war in the North East.

The party demanded that the National Assembly should respond to the apprehensions of Nigerians by immediately setting up a special security committee to conduct a forensic investigation into the truth or otherwise, of the report with the tenor and mode as prescribed for security issues in the 1999 Constitution (as amended.)

PDP’s demand is predicated on the brazen attempt by the Buhari Presidency to politicise such huge security issue and making uncomplimentary allusions to the plight of the troops in yet another unpatriotic and insensitive press release on the state of our nation.

“It is unfortunate that at this time when patriotic Nigerians are distressed about the well-being of our gallant soldiers and seeking for solutions to the challenges they face in the front, the Buhari Presidency is rather issuing press statements, just like the one it released on August 2, 2019, wherein it leveraged on the plight of our soldiers to boast on how to retain a stolen presidential mandate.

“Instead of showing concern over the fate of our troops, taking concrete steps on the issue at stake and reassuring an anxious nation, the Buhari Presidency is rather seeking to draw political capital from our security challenges by flaunting a despicable self-confidence on the presidential election petition pending in the Court of Appeal and how, in its own words “the judiciary would always come to conclusions.

“It is imperative to state that such comments send very wrong signals against our judiciary and we urge the judiciary arm to insulate herself from the nocturnal shenanigans of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the cabal at the Presidency, which have gone into frenzy following the apparent collapse of their defence at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

“While the Buhari Presidency, has with its latest stance on such grave security issue, further exhibited that it has come short of appropriate solutions to the security challenges facing our nation, the PDP states that waving off of such without the least effort to unravel the issues and reassure Nigerians, shows total failure of leadership”, said the party in a statement on Friday by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The PDP held that President Buhari has again failed to demonstrate that he has the capacity and commitment to ensure the security of our nation.