ANOTHER MUTINY AT MAIMALARI BARRACKS

 

   A mutiny has occurred again at the Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno state after one had taken place a few weeks ago when soldiers at the barracks shot sporadically into the air and at the car of their GOC, General Abubakar Mohammed. This time around the soldiers regrouped at the sound of a whistle to chant songs of revolt in front of the new GOC, M.Y Ibrahim's office. According to reports from Sahara reporters:
 Several sources in the barracks told SaharaReporters that the soldiers’ second act of mutiny in two weeks began around 3:00 p.m. (Nigerian time). The angry soldiers blew a whistle, and most of the rank and file gathered at a spot before they marched en masse to the 7th Division headquarters building where the GOC’s office is located. 
The sources said the sources shot in the air as they marched and chanted “We no gree oh, we no gree!” Our sources said the protesting soldiers were upset about the army’s failure to pay their outstanding allowances. They were also annoyed by the decision of the newly posted GOC to ban motorcycles as a form of transport within the barracks. The new GOC reportedly banned motorbikes known as Okada and tricycles known as “Keke NAPEP” from operating within the vast barracks. The soldiers wondered why the new commander would prohibit the use of the only affordable means of transport they have when he knows full well that the base covers a huge area and that few soldiers own cars or bike.
“If no okada [motorcycles] are allowed, then our small children have to walk to school and our wives will walk to market,” one of the soldiers told SaharaReporters. “Are we not suffering too much already?” he added.
Once they arrived at the GOC’s office, the protesting soldiers decided to give him a dose of the experience of navigating within the barracks without motorcycles. They ordered Major General XYZ to come outside the building, pushing and shoving him.  Then they forced him to trek all through the barracks.
The angry soldiers also demanded the payment of their N100, 000 furniture allowance which, according to them, was long overdue.
Last week, frustrated soldiers at the same barracks demonstrated and shot at the car of their erstwhile GOC, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed. The soldiers felt that General Mohammed’s operational orders were responsible for the death of close to 100 soldiers who were returning from an operation in Chibok, the town where members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, kidnapped 276 high schoolgirls near midnight on April 14. The abduction of the girls, who remain missing, has sparked outrage in Nigeria and around the world.
Military authorities in Abuja decided to remove Major General Mohammed a day after the first mutiny.
  Generally, the soldiers' outburst and flare up came as a result of the unfairness in their standard of living and general working conditions.