The Nigerian Army has sacked at least 200 soldiers for cowardice and failure to
fight against Boko Haram militants, several soldiers have told the BBC.
Up to 4,500 other rank and file soldiers could be dismissed, they say.
A Nigerian military
source confirmed the dismissals to the BBC, but would not give an exact figure.
The army was widely
criticised when the Islamist group Boko Haram captured vast areas in the
country's North-east last year, despite a military emergency.
Nigerian troops, with
military backing from Chad, Cameroun and Niger, has now recaptured most of the
areas in the North-east which the group had seized, but sporadic attacks and
violence have continued.
Many of the dismissals
are thought to be connected to the fall of Mubi, the second largest town in
Adamawa State, one of three states worst hit by the insurgency.
Boko Haram insurgents
captured the town in October after clashes with government forces.
One of the soldiers
who has been dismissed, and was present at the fall of Mubi, told the BBC Hausa
service that soldiers were simply following orders from their commanders, who
had told them to retreat from the town because they lacked adequate weapons to
take on the militants.
“We weren't given an
opportunity to defend ourselves. I've spent 20 years in the service of the
Nigerian Army, I've never been accused of any offence,” said the soldier, who
did not want to be named.
It is expected that
the soldiers who have been dismissed will not receive any extra payment or
pensions because of their low rank and are not entitled to defend themselves in
a military court, reported the BBC.
A military official,
who did not want to be named, said that video footage taken during the fall of
Mubi showed soldiers fleeing Boko Haram, providing proof of their cowardice.
Nigeria's incoming
President, Muhammadu Buhari, may review the death sentences of the 66 soldiers
separately convicted for refusing to fight Boko Haram, according to their
lawyer.
About 1.5 million
people have been displaced and hundreds more abducted since the group launched
their violent uprising in 2009. More than 15,500 people have been killed in the
fighting.
The group is still holding many women, girls
and children captives including 219 schools girls it kidnapped from a school in
Chibok in April last year.
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