Where are thou? 30 Questions for Nigerian Army

By Moses Oludele Idowu

And the Lord God called out to Adam, and said unto him, “Where art thou?”
– Genesis 3:9

The events of the last few days in Benue has shaken a lot of people, Nigerians both residents and in diaspora, and even foreigners.

The massacre and even genocidal actions of few elements supported by 7 soldiers (as alleged) from the same ethnic group against Benue people for more than 4 hours without any resistance or engagement in a land where an army exists beats imagination.

This incident further underscores the need to now interrogate certain realities and bring to question or challenge the popularly accepted notions of what a security agency, especially an Army is or should be.

I have some questions for the entire Nigerian Army, questions that other Nigerians have been asking in hushed tones and silent whispers but which must now be verbalised and voiced out publicly and to demand urgent answers.

The faith of many Nigerians, eminent Nigerians, foreigners inclusive is now shaken, seriously shaken in a ‘Nigerian Army.’ Certain facts are now in public domain some of them given to the public by members and former members of the Armed Forces themselves which cast doubts on the sincerity, impartiality and even the competency of the Army.

And should we ignore these in the name of patriotism? No they should be addressed.

Even after the tragedy of Yelwata and while the tears are still flowing, suspected herders still attacked farming communities in Bali Local Government of Taraba setting 62 houses ablaze; killed 30 in Kebbi, Plateau, Kano and Enugu.

So when will the blood cease from flowing? Where is the Army?

The time has come to ask questions, definite questions.

Here are my questions to the Nigerian Army:

1. The first question I want to ask is simple but also the most important. Where art thou? On whose side is Nigerian Army today: on the side of Nigerians or their enemies? On the side of Nigerian nation and her different peoples or on the side of one particular tribe, the Fulanis? On the side of the Constitution (imperfect as it is) or the Sharia? On the side of a secular Republic and democracy or on the side of Islamic Republic or theocracy?
   These questions may appear foolish to some but by the time I ask the other questions and lay the facts bare it would be shown that they are not so foolish. The Role of an Army
2. What is the role of an Army, any Army in the life of a political collectivity? Is it to defend the territorial integrity of a nation and the lives of the citizens? To what degree has the Nigerian Army acquit itself to these challenges and constitutional demands in the last 15 years?
3. The governor of Plateau State publicly declared that 64 communities in his State are now occupied by foreign Fulani insurgents and bandits driving the natives into refugee camps and IDPs. The same thing to some degree have been voiced by another lawmaker from Plateau and even the governor of Benue State.
   Another Report affirms that 950 locations in Nigeria’s Southeast now occupied by jihadist Fulani herdsmen. ( See www.conclave.ng.com) In essence foreigners have successfully driven Nigerian citizens and natives from their houses and are living there, in a nation where there is an Army that has one of the largest number of generals ( retired and serving) in the world. Aren’t you worried by this fact? What then is your role as per (2) above? Nigeria’s territorial integrity us being infringed upon by foreign elements taking territory and occupying houses and renaming villages and towns in a nation where there is an Army, what then is the purpose of an Army? *Efficiency, Combat Readiness*
4. What is the level of your combat readiness, operational efficiency, coordination and response to emergency? Do you really have any plan to defend Nigerians from harm keep Nigeria safe? Because it is inconceivable that insurgents could be perpetrating these heinous, relentless attacks in Benue, Plateau, Taraba States without any resistance, arrest, pursuit or punishment from the State where an Army is supposed to exist.
5. The ongoing genocide in Benue and of recent the massacre of Yelwata further again questions the army’s combat readiness and operational efficiency and coordination. I am told that Yelewata is only 30 minutes drive to 72 Special Forces Base and less than 50 minutes to Makurdi where an Air Force Base also exists. Yet for all these, Fulani assailants went on rampage massacring an entire village for more than 5 hours without any resistance or response from these Army bases and “Special Forces”.
   Victims of Fulani attacks have also severally claimed that they were attacked near Army bases, checkpoints without any response or resistance from Army. What then is the role of an Army? What is the usefulness of an Army that is not there in time of calamity and during the People’s extremities?
6. Even after the tragedy of Yelwata became known and public knowledge to the international community and international outrage provoked the Army is not in pursuit of these criminals in their forest and hideouts in a state where there is an Air Force Base and “Special Forces.” This is always the story and pattern of the Army. No pursuit, attack, punishment or reprisal or retribution especially once it is the attack from a particular group and tribe. Is this how an Army is supposed to act and is this how they act in other climes?
7. The Army often claims that they did not receive orders from Abuja and they cannot be deployed by anyone except the President. So even if an attack is being waged and a massacre of whole communities ongoing the Army will not move until the President – who may be on top of a woman or asleep – gives the order? So a governor’s cry for help, head of a federating unit, cannot be answered unless the President gives the order? Then Nigerians are in more serious trouble than they actually realise.
   A Fulani attack in one Southeastern state went on unchallenged because the army refused to heed the governor’s plea and Abuja refused to pick his calls until the attack had succeeded. Then the same Army that would not take orders from a governor moved in to prevent the natives from reprisal. Alleged Bias, Partiality and Unfairness
8. The Army claims that only the President can deploy it when it comes to challenging insurgents from a certain tribe but the same Army is quick to act proactively when even lesser infractions by other people without waiting for orders as several newspaper stories have shown. Isn’t this a proof of partiality and bias which should be unheard of in an Army?
9. It is commonly reported about you that you are partial, biased and sectional by your response and operations. Some of these allegations have been made by your own retired officers and chieftains and the evidence now in the public domain seem to justify the allegations. Is this so?
10. Why are you so heavy on peaceful ethnic agitators who are demanding a separation of their tribes from Nigeria but are soft on jihadists, Islamists and radicals who are waging war against the State and killing innocent people to establish an Islamic Caliphate? Can you deny this because I will confront you with hard evidence!
    Gana the Tiv warlord and ethnic militia leader was extra- judicially murdered by the Army on his way to Amnesty of Government; Sunday Igboho was nearly killed but narrowly escaped; Nnamdi Kanu escaped to exile when his house was attacked by security agents. Compared to these heinous attacks against these ethnic agitators the Army is negotiating with Ado Aleru and other murderers who have been responsible for the killings and crude murder of several hundreds of citizens in Zamfara, Katshina, Kebbi etc. Isn’t this partiality?
    Soldiers were seeing escorting terrorists like Ado Aleru and others to peace meeting and negotiations. Is this the role of an Army? Why was this not extended to Gana and other ethnic agitators?
11. Why is the Army using racket when it comes to Islamists and terrorists in the North but sledgehammer when it comes to peaceful agitators in the South? What is the reason for the large concentration of Army in the Southeast and several military checkpoints when there is no war there while Zamfara that is the hotbed of criminal pillage and on the borderline of state failure has less? How will the Army explain this lopsidedness? Criminality, State Robbery and Systematic Plunder
12. Zamfara has been the scene of illegal mining of gold by yet – to – be ascertained elements. Reports of helicopters and planes coming in and ferrying gold away from a nation that needs more resources to escape economic turmoil, are rife. Yet the Army is not aware of these? Or , are we to believe that it is aware but chose to look the other way because its generals are equally involved? In a nation where an Army and Air Force exists?
13. A former Rivers State governor pointedly accused solders of being behind the illegal bunkering of oil in the state. Senator Adam Oshiomole also publicly on the floor of the Senate accused generals of being behind smuggling and illegal mining of minerals in Nigeria. How about that? Where in the world do generals steal from the same nation they are supposed to protect? Where in the world do generals serving or retired named among robbers of the State resources publicly; as plunderers of National resources? And you are not worried about this?
14. A pipeline stealing crude oil and which has been there for 9 years was discovered by Tompolo and his crew of surveillance contractors. So a pipeline or conduit for stealing crude oil and which has been there for 9 years was only discovered by a non- state actor in a nation where there is an Army, Navy, Air Force and infantry and “Special Forces”. Isn’t this a dent, a shame to the Army? Isn’t this a confirmation that its top brass are neck deep in illegal bunkering and stealing of crude oil as it has been alleged? Poor Image and Loss of Prestige
15. General Salihu Ibrahim, former Chief of Army Staff under Sani Abacha described the Nigerian Army, on the morning of his retirement and passing out and in a valedictory ceremony as an “army of anything goes.” Kindly check your archive to confirm this but the speech was published by Tell magazine and is therefore public document. “An army of anything goes”? What a description from someone who should know? Has this changed? Has professionalism returned to the Army? If the army was described in this way 30 years ago what will be the fitting description today?
16. General Theophilus Danjuma in a Convocation ceremony in Taraba also publicly declared that the Nigerian Army is no longer neutral and that the citizens should be prepared to defend themselves. That if the Tarabians wait for the Army they would die one by one. What a tragic comment from a former Chief of Army Staff about an Army that he dutifully served. Has this changed today? Yakubu Danjuma is a man of honour and not a frivolous fellow. If he said that publicly the situation is worse than stated. What will the Nigerian Army say about this?
17. In the light of 15 &16 above, why should Nigerians place their confidence in an Army that is not neutral and has lost discipline? Generals Ibrahim and Danjuma were two of the finest Chiefs of staff that Nigerian Army has produced, the kind of officers you will call soldiers’ soldiers – men of honour who refused political appointments and prefer their professional duties as soldiers even when the Army was in power. So if two of the best army chiefs expressed public doubts about the same Army they served why should I as a civilian believe or repose any confidence in such an Army – in the light of seriously heinous actions now in the public domains? Connivance, Collaboration With Jihadists
18. In a viral video now trending online the youths of Ogbede community in Edo State pointedly accused the Army of conniving with Fulani herdsmen to chase them out of their land. This is a serious allegation. It is not just treason, it is high treason.
    Some communities in Ogun State have also accused the Army of forcing the Fulani on them and even accompanying them into the land to violate the land.
    What has the Army got to say about these?
19. Even members of the Armed Forces themselves have corroborated the allegation of collusion of the Army with Islamists and jihadists. Maj. General Danjuma Ali- Keffi in a letter to the President niw in public domain, stated that he was retired, arrested and detained in solitary confinement for 64 days after leading a task force that arrested the key figures of Boko Haram and the real leader of the Movement.
    What will the Army say about this? What type of Army arrest or detains a gallant officer for successfully arresting the enemy of the State?
    Maj. Gen Atolagbe too was disengaged, it is alleged, in similar circumstances. And many gallant officers and forces have left because they accused the Army echelon of insincerity in the war against terror.
    What really is happening in Nigerian Army? Is the Nigerian Army indeed “the Army of anything goes?”
20. The Chief of Defense Staff Christopher Musa has admitted that military saboteurs were involved in the Yelwata attack. This is an Army chief admitting that his own soldiers and officers colluded with the enemies against the state. Isn’t that a confirmation of what that soldier said now declared wanted?
21. Several natives of besieged communities in Kaduna, Plateau, Benue etc., have alleged that the Army usually come to disarm their militia and vigilante just before any attack from the Fulanis. Strangely some senior officials in Plateau, Benue States have confirmed this allegation to me as true. And they were unanimous in the allegation. In point of fact some said that whenever their militia and vigilante are being disarmed they instinctively know that an attack is imminent. This is serious. This is tragic. What kinds of Army disarms its own people before their enemies? What kinds of Army makes its own citizens vulnerable to the attacks of the enemies? Even if this allegation is only 30% true – and I am afraid it is even more – it should be deeply concerning. Can we call that an Army again that is guilty of such terrible assault against other ethnic groups in favour of one particular group or tribe or religion? I mean a National Army not an army of occupation?
22. How do our military hardware, vehicles ammunition purchased for the military to protect us get into the hands of Boko Haram as alleged by the Plateau State House of Representative member on the floor of the House on May 14, 2025 – just nearly one month before Yelwata?
23. Recently a soldier in a video now gone viral accused a Fulani general of compromising the Army operations in Benue for the interest of his tribe. He gave a lot of information in the video accusing the generals of several atrocities confirming Danjuma’s thesis and Ibrahim’s accusations above. What did the Army do with those serious and heinous allegations?
    Instead the Army has declared the solider wanted and posted the general to Borno State. Possibly to cover up the allegations against its general- a common trait and pattern of Nigerian Army.
    Incidentally, it was again when that general got to Borno that the military base in Marte was attacked and sacked by insurgents which some soldiers claimed was aided by fifth columnists from within.
    How many of such “generals” and officers are now in the Army working not for the unity of Nigeria but for the Victory of a Stealth Jihad? In the light of all these (16-18 above) who is more dangerous to the ethnic nationalities: the Fulani or even the Army itself – “an army of anything goes”, too corrupt to even probe its members?
24. It is also commonly reported that there is corruption among you, your officer corps and even the top echelon of the Army is corrupt. When last was the Defense budget audited? Billions of dollars have been budgeted for arms that have vanished. Army agents have been arrested for selling arms to enemies of the State like Boko Haram, ISWAP etc. Officers have been incriminated and accused and named by kidnappers and insurgents as collaborators. Is it really possible for the kind of insurgency and attacks going on in Nigeria to take place without collaboration with some elements within the Army? The Chief of Defense Staff has admitted elements within the Army compromised that the recent attacks in Benue. What is the army doing about self-sabotage and fifth columnists?
25. The DSS has been quoted in a news report on June 28 published by the Cable newspaper a leaked memo now in public domain that it warned the Army at least one month ago about the attack in Yelwata. In other words the Army has information for 30 days that an attack was coming and it allows the attack to go ahead – unchecked, unresisted and unchallenged?
    Is this true? What has the Army got to say about this heinous allegation that has been responsible for the loss of 200 innocent citizens?
    We also remember that the DSS claimed to have warned the Army of the terrorist attack on the Kuje Prison before it happened, without the Army doing anything to forestall the attacks. Instead, 24 hours to the attacks all the soldiers guarding the area were withdrawn so that when the terrorists came they met no stiff resistance.
    What has the Army got to say about these facts? Why has the Army not challenged these facts or claims by DSS if they are false?
26. About 4000 lives have been lost in Benue alone since the beginning of this crisis. And no arrest has been made, no one is in court or being Court- martialled in a nation where there is an Army and in a State where army bases exist. Is this justiceable? Can the Army defend this in the court of experts or before International Inquiry?
    Israel lost 3000 in Yom Kippur War which they considered a disaster, faced with three enemy nations unprepared. These are however Nigerians who are not in war whose only crime was that they were Nigerians.
27. Several days now after the attack on Yelwata and no arrest has been made or likely to be made. And the Army feels this is normal?
    Instead Kebbi has been attacked. Plateau remains a killing field, Taraba is on edge as 62 houses set on fire by herders. Does the Army expect Nigerians to continue this way? Does the Army think that oje day the ethnic nationalities will not stand up to defend themselves?
28. About $50b have been spent on security since 2010 involving the Army, Defense, Police, DSS, NSA etc. And today Nigeria is far more insecure and prostrate. Instead of Boko Haram alone in 2010 we now have ISWAP, Lakurawa, Mahmuda, Fulani herders, bandits and instead of a section of the Northeast it is now almost all the North and East and a section of South South and even Southwest. What would the Army say about this? That under her watch the security situation in Nigeria has now worsened precipitously to such a level that even retired generals too are being kidnapped and paying ransom for deliverance. It is not to continue to refer to the wonders in Liberia or Sierra Leone, it is to solve the problem here now. The Army that restored order in Sierra Leone and Liberia is no more; what we have now is the Army of today. How has this army fared in her own theater of warfare? Is it a testimony to the Nigerian Army that it restored democracy and law and order abroad in Liberia and Sierra Leone but lost it at home?
29. Does the Nigerian Army has a mechanism for input of information, for self-correction, self – censorship and self- understanding? It is a terrible assault on the image of the Army when officers and soldiers go on Social Media broadcasting frustrations because there are no internal mechanisms for them to be genuinely heard.
30. What has the Army got to say about all these allegations? These are serious questions, terrible allegations that cannot be wished away. They must be addressed. NIgerians want an answer to them; they demand a response not contempt.
    I will end the same way I started: NIgerian Army, Where art thou? Conclusion
    Make no mistake, I have a lot of respect for the Nigerian Army. That is why I am taking the time to write this in the first place. In any institution there are men of honour and there are scoundrels too.
    An army officer may not have the leverage to ask these questions of his superior even though he feels the same way. I am not an army officer or soldier, I am a citizen.
    The rules of the Army do not extend to me. As a citizen it is my right to ask questions of any institution maintained with public funds. And I hope the Army will understand that. I also hope the generals will also understand that and not respond with scurrilous insults and language as before but genuinely answer my questions.
    NIgeria can still be saved.

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© Moses Oludele Idowu
June 24, 2025
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