TY Danjuma’s Claim: Defence Minister Admits Soldiers’ Sins But…

The Minister of Defence, Masur Dan-Ali, has admitted receiving negative reports of soldiers’ misconducts from states devastated by herdsmen/farmers crisis.

Masur admitted this in the light former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma’s claim that some soldiers have been colluding with herdsmen to attack innocent Nigerians.

“There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state (Taraba) and of course, some rural states in Nigeria, we must resist it. We must stop it. Everyone of us must rise up. Our armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians… If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one,” Danjuma had said.

But Mansur, however, denied receiving any such reports from Taraba State as claimed by the former Chief of Army Staff.

“We have the Human Rights violation desk in all the formations of the Nigerian Army and a similar channel in the other arms of the military. Nigerians can also come directly to the Ministry of Defence. They can go to the Nigerian Army headquarters. Our doors are always open,” Mansur’s spokesperson, Col. Tukur Gusau, told newsmen recently.

“If a soldier on duty has done something you feel is inappropriate, you have a duty to report that soldier. The office of the defence minister is open to everyone.

“The era where civilians are afraid of military actions is gone. Yes, we have been having such reports about the misconduct of soldiers in the theatre of operation. Nigerians have been coming to report incidents and we have been taking care of them. There have been disciplinary procedures. Soldiers have been put through disciplinary procedures.

“We have not received anything yet from Taraba State. We need to work on specific things. To my knowledge, we didn’t receive anything in respect of our operations in Taraba State,” said the minister’s spokesperson.