The Army and Alternative Truth
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General Tukur Buratai
The Nigeria Army has denied a recent report that at least, 31 soldiers were killed when Boko Haram insurgents attacked a military base in Zari, Borno State. The insurgents were said to have stormed the area in trucks, overrunning the military base as well as sacking the entire village.
Curiously, the Army has never admitted it came under any such attacks at any time or that it lost a huge number of its men to the attacks, in a manner that presents the Army was untruthful or better still, always comfortable with churning out alternative facts.
There have been many cases of attacks on the Army, either by attacking their operational bases or ambushing them. But each time the reports came out, the military always denied, more or less keen about its image perception than the plight of its men, who are in the firing line. But the truth is that the military cannot continue to dwell on sheer lies at the expense of the lives of its men. It is not sustainable.
