Since 1999 when military rule ended in Nigeria, the country has been awash with armed ethnic militias, who in many cases overwhelm the local security services. In the case of the Niger Delta militants and the northeast, where Boko Haram were the dominant powers, soldiers and policemen are known to have fled in the face of their attacks.
Yesterday, Major General Chris Olukolade, the director of defence information, warned that the military would not condone illegality in the guise of militias. He added that experience showed that it was not easy to determine how these militias would operate once they started, as those who founded them often lost control after a while.
Major General Olukolade said: “We can no longer tolerate a situation where a group of people would constitute themselves into a militia group and begin to kill innocent people cruelly and unnecessarily. They do not just organise ambush and kill soldiers but also abduct and then soldiers are found not just dead but mutilated.
"We should not encourage illegality in the name of promoting militias. We have seen in other places that when it starts, it becomes difficult to manage.”
He added that the military would also not condone illegality by the armed forces and would address cases of soldiers killing people with impunity. According to Major General Olukolade, defence headquarters was very much interested in investigating the incident in Wase where about 54 people were allegedly killed by the military.
Major General Olukolade pointed out that the security agencies were interested in ensuring that the nation was secure, adding that all they called for was cooperation. He cited developments in the northeast where he said the military was working with people who had volunteered to support the mission against Boko Haram.
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