Buhari Gives Frontline Troops Old, Rusty Guns, Abuja Soldiers New Weapons – APC Senator

In what appears to be prioritisation of the security of relatively peaceful Abuja to restoration of peace and serenity to the war ravaged north eastern part of the country, president Muhammadu Buhari administration has been rationing weapons to troops fighting the deadly Boko Haram insurgents in the region.

Borno senator, Ali Ndume, made the revelation during an interactive session of his committee with representatives of the chief of defence staff and the chief of army staff.

Ndume said the Buhari’s administration has been rationing ammunition to and equipping frontline soldiers with old weapons to fight bandits, Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.

“I interact with the soldiers, I have gone through the formation, I cannot see a soldier holding brand new AK47. It is so bad that the Nigerian Army is rationing ammunition among soldiers. I can be quoted.

“In a budget of N13 trillion, you are allocating the N30 billion,” Ndume, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, told the finance minister Zainab Ahmed on the issue of financing the Nigerian military.

According to BUDGIT, the spending spree of Buhari’s administration insecurity was put at over N10 trillion since 2015 to date.

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The senator is a member of the country’s ruling party, All Progressives Congress, along with Buhari. The APC rose to power in 2015 on the wave of a pledge that it would end Nigeria’s protracted war against terrorists in the North.

Ndume described as unreasonable the allocation of only N30 billion out of the nation’s 2021 budget of N13 trillion to the Nigerian army.

The senator further disclosed that the only place he saw well-kitted military men armed with new AK47 rifles in the country was in Abuja.

“As I said, I can be quoted: the only place I see new AK46 is in Abuja. That is necessary because that is the image of Nigeria.

“Nigerians are looking forward to this meeting hoping that we can resolve it, in terms of addressing the challenges of the Nigerian Army,” he explained.

Ahmed disclosed that Buhari’s administration between 2019 and 2021 spent about N54 billion to fund operations of the army.