Nigerians Urge Support For Military As Criminals Kill 183 Soldiers In 6 Months

Many citizens and security experts have expressed concern over the killing of security operatives by criminals and called for action to stem the tide.

They specifically made case for military operatives who were killed in the line of duty while carrying out internal security.

No fewer than 183 personnel of the Nigerian military have paid the supreme price within six months – January to June, 2021 – in the line of their duties, findings by Daily Trust Saturday have shown.

Thousands of military operatives drawn from the army, navy and air force have been deployed to more than 30 states in the country.

According to reported cases in the media, the officers were killed by bandits, hoodlums, gunmen, Boko Haram terrorists, cultists, armed robbers, among others.

Available information showed that they were killed in different parts of the country, but a large percentage of the cases were recorded in the northern part, with North-East topping the chat.

States where soldiers have been killed include Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that while soldiers were expected to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria against external aggression, many of them have been deployed to tame internal threats.

The troops support sister agencies like the police, civil defence, Customs and Immigrations in some instances even as they take over the whole operation in some places.

Some Nigerians who spoke Daily Trust correspondents said all security operatives in Nigeria deserve empathy and support.

-Daily Trust