Badeh’s Sad Confession

Editorial

The recent shocking revelation by the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd), that he headed an armed forces that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy (Boko Haram terrorists) that was invisible and embedded with the local populace is enough ground to prosecute him at the International Criminal Court. He should be charged with crime against humanity for deliberately allowing thousands of Nigerians to be killed under his watch without telling the Federal Government that the military lacked equipment to fight Boko Haram.

His excuse that the decision of certain countries to deny Nigeria weapons to prosecute the war against Boko Haram, added to the challenges the military faced rings hollow because this same Badeh told the whole world in January this year that the Nigerian military was well equipped to rout Boko Haram even when it was obvious that the insurgents had a far more superior firepower to take on Badeh’s men.

Badeh, who was appointed Chief of Defence Staff by former president Goodluck Jonathan on 16 January, 2014 also blamed others for his colossal failure as Chief of Defence Staff. He said a section of the media as well the political class exploited a serious national security issue to gain political mileage and that the activities of fifth columnists in the military and other security agencies who leaked operational plans and other sensitive military information to the terrorists combined to make the fight against the insurgents particularly difficult.

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He also spoke pitifully about the neglect of the military over the years as it was under-equipped to ensure the survival of certain regimes, while other regimes, based on advice from some foreign nations deliberately reduced the size of the military. What this startling revelation means is that Badeh deliberately led an ill-equipped military that allowed Boko Haram terrorists to massacre thousands of Nigerians in the North-east.

Some Nigerians are disappointed with Badeh over his belated confession and feel he should be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court. This same Badeh in October 2014 defended the death sentence passed on 12 soldiers who had fled an encounter with Boko Haram insurgents because they lacked the weapons to fight. It was the same month that he was humiliated when his hometown, Vimtim in Adamawa State, was captured by Boko Haram.

Badeh’s confession is also a sufficient ground to free all the soldiers tried for mutiny for refusing to fight Boko Haram. When the soldiers complained about lack of equipment to fight, Badeh and other top military officers said they were lying. Now we know who was lying all along. The story now told by Badeh has vindicated the hapless soldiers wrongly dismissed, tried and sentenced to death. Apart from prosecuting Badeh, he should be made to account for the trillions of naira budgeted for defence under his watch.

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