OPEN LETTER TO MR PRESIDENT

SGT HASSAN ADEWUZA

INF CORPS
NIGERIA ARMY
10 APRIL, 2023

MUHAMADU BUHARI
PRESIDENT AND C –IN- C
ARMED FORCES
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

Sir,
CONTINIOUS CORRUPTION AND FAILURE OF THE MILITATY HIERACHY
I honestly want to call on the attention of Mr. President on the above mention
subject. It is no longer a top secret but an open secret that the Nigerian military is
fantastically corrupt especially, the Nigerian army. This has been proven by the
events of the past few years starting from the fight against insurgence/banditry to
the just concluded elections. Every senior officer in the Nigerian Army today care
more of his pockets and careless of the lives and welfare of his subordinates in the
just concluded election, the Nigerian police paid every policeman the sum of N180,
000 whether they took part on the election or not, but in the Army, those that took
part in the elections exercise where paid N10,000, N9,000 and N7,500 depending on
the command and some command nothing was given to them even pure water. And
it was no secret that millions of naira was disbursed to the military for this purpose.
Some military commanders even collected huge sum of money to turn blind eyes on
intimidations, killings and suppression of voters.
I am writing to you today Mr. President to look into the plight of junior
member of the army especially the order ranks because a day of reckoning is coming.
We have suffered for far too long. It seems like in our cadre there is no dignity in
labour. We work like elephants but eat like ants. Imaging how it feels like after
putting in more than 20 years of your life in the service and still be treated like trash.
A young commissioned officer today receives a better treatment than a very senior
NCO. It’s very painful and we can’t take it anymore. Mr. President, loyalty is one of
the core values of the army but let me inform you that loyalty is almost if not
completely dead in the Nigerian Army. We have more of eye service than loyalty. No
soldier is willing to die for senseless leaders anymore. The country is not worth dying
for especially when you think of the ill treatment you receive from your leaders or is
it the ill treatment our dead colleagues families receive. Our lives are now seen as
wasteful sacristies to fill the pockets of inhuman senior military officer. The army is
poorly paid and poorly equipped e.g. in the armored corps. An armored battalion is
supposed to be equipped with 36 battle tanks but name one armor battalion in
Nigeria today that have 5 serviceable battles tank. How many mechanized battalion
today can be proud of one or two serviceable Armoured personnel carrier (APC).
Toyota Hilux which is supposed to be a logistics vehicle is now our main operational
vehicle in the Nigerian army and yet you call this an Army.
Mr. President we want an Army that meets international standard we have
what it takes as a nation to do that. We feel ashamed to call ourselves soldiers when
we meet in foreign missions with our counterparts from other nations. For these
reasons anger is building up in the army. Soldiers are angry and something have to
be done quickly or you will see Ghana’s June 4th 1979 happening in Nigeria. This
inhouse cleaning will shake the nation and Africa. Soldiers leaving the job in high
numbers and most reasons is loss of interest that should have send a signal but no.
Do not say I didn’t warn you. Soldiers are angry do what is necessary. Do not forget
that this country is now sitting on a keg of gun powder and any little spark can cause
a deadly explosion.

Yours Sincerely,

Sgt Hassan Adewuza

Copy to
The Vice President
The Senate President
The Speaker House of Representatives
Minister of Defence
Chief of Defence Staff
Chief of Army Staff
Chairman Senate Committee Army
Concern citizens of Nigeria.