EXCEPT for the 40-second interval during which the bugle was sounded to signify the lowering of both the National and Army flags at exactly 6.00 p.m. yesterday, the atmosphere at the Owena Barracks of the 323 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army in Akure, Ondo State was a rancorous and mutinous one. Hundreds of soldiers went on violent demonstration over the alleged military authorities’ cut of the United Nations (UN) allowances for their peacekeeping operations in the former war-torn Liberia.
For several hours beginning from mid-afternoon, the soldiers, all dressed in their Army fatigues, took over the whole stretch of Ondo Road, setting up bonfires to block the entrance to the Akure metropolis through the Ondo axis.
Chanting war songs and brandishing sticks and cudgels, they moved in bands and siphoned fuels from hapless motorists who were caught in the confusion that the whole scenario had been turned into, to wet disused tyres that were immediately set on fire.
Civilians living around the barracks, which is located in the outskirts of the town, ran helter- skelter and most were forced to trek long distances, having disembarked from their vehicles as no vehicular movement was allowed to and from the metropolis.
Elsewhere in the town, palpable fear gripped the residents as news filtered in that the soldiers were on rampage resulting in abrupt paralysis of social and economic activities.
As at 6.00 p.m. yesterday, the whole stretch of the road, up to Aje-Igboro, which is about two kilometres away was enveloped in thick smoke billowing from the many bonfires made by the irate soldiers while panic-stricken traders hurriedly closed their shops.
One motorist, who was caught in the mayhem was beaten to a state of coma by the soldiers for disobeying their order to go back to the town. The windscreen of his Toyota Carina car was also smashed.
The riotous situation was the same inside the barracks as hundreds of soldiers held hostage the Commanding Officer (C.O), Gabriel Umelo, a Lieutenant Colonel, and other senior officers of the military in his office.
The presence of armed guards who formed a menacing ring around the CO’s office saved the officer from being abducted as the atmosphere became more charged with the soldiers heaping unprintable words on him.
The Guardian learnt that the crisis was caused by the alleged non-payment of the allowances due to the soldiers who served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Liberia.
Some of the peacekeepers said they were drawn from across the country to participate in the operations and that instead of the $1,228 that the global body approved for them on monthly basis, authorities of the Nigerian Army were shortchanging them by paying them only $3,000 for the six-month period.
They claimed that since they returned to Nigeria on April 23 from the operation, which they started on September 12 last year, life had been difficult for them because they were not paid their allowances.
The immediate cause of the mayhem, according to them, was the way the soldiers were abandoned since Monday when they converged in Akure from their various stations across the country to collect their money.
They claimed that for about a week, they had been sleeping under trees with no provision for feeding and without any explanation or apology from any quarter.
They also said that a female member of the contingent died out of the frustration from the endless wait for her allowances even as they lamented the agony of serving the UN under the Nigerian flag.
According to them, Nigerian troops were known for tattered uniforms and rickety vehicles and that even when they were kitted, they were made to pay for it.