Army chief orders investigation in Bama IDP camp

After months of unrelenting accusations, Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai has ordered an investigation into alleged misconducts by his soldiers in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Bama, Borno state.

Soldiers protecting the camp and members of the Joint Task Force(JTF) have been accused by women in the camp of demanding sex in return for favours.

In a petition addressed to federal lawmakers in the national assembly, the victims said the harassment campaign has been going on as far back as 2015 when the Boko Haram insurgency uprooted them from their homes.

In a statement by Sani Usman, spokesman of the army, he said, “The Nigerian army has noted with great concern growing allegations of misconduct against some persons on security duties at internally displaced persons’ camp in Bama, Borno state.

“We would like to state that Nigerian Army personnel have been doing their best in bringing peace and security in various parts of the country especially in the north-east, any act of misconduct could negatively impact on these good works.

“Although these allegations are unsubstantiated, the chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has today directed that the matter be thoroughly investigated by both the director military intelligence and provost marshal (army).

“We would like to reiterate that the Nigerian army has zero tolerance for any misconduct among its officers and soldiers especially those that are trusted with onerous responsibility of guarding and securing those internally displaced persons’ camps. Anyone found culpable, would be severely dealt with.

“We would like to enjoin the public to please take advantage of the newly established Nigerian Army information and call Centre to report any such issue and other security concern by calling the short code 193 using any of the telecommunication service providers in Nigeria or through email atna.callcentre@army.mil.ng.”