Some Nigerian soldiers deployed to Yobe State as part of the Joint Task Force to check insurgency have complained of abandonment and accused the military authorities of keeping them in the war front beyond their approved stay.
Many of the soldiers had been deployed several months before President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States in May.
The soldiers said military authorities are keeping them in the troubled state beyond the approved three months which is causing "lack of motivation and low morale" among the soldiers.
"Apart from the police that adhere to the rule of rotating troops every three months, all military personnel in the Yobe JTF are presently on their eighth months now, and yet no one is talking about our rotation," said a soldier who has been in Yobe since last year.
The soldier, like others, sought anonymity for fear of victimization.
Another soldier linked the killing of some soldiers by the Boko Haram to the low morale caused by the 'unexplained excessive stay," in the state. He said the soldiers never expected that they would serve beyond the approved three months.
Nigerian military authorities confirmed that some of the soldiers had indeed stayed beyond the three months they were meant to, but said the reasons were explained to the soldiers.
"Originally, the troops were meant to stay for three months, that was the agreement that took them there," said Chris Olukolade, the spokesman for the Defence Headquarters.
"Along the line, their stay had to be extended. And when it was extended, it means that there has to be a new procedure which will also make up for their needs while in that mission."
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