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ABSTRACT
Since the commencement of the counterinsurgency fight against Boko Haram, the Nigerian Army has been faced with internal crises, such as corruption, poor welfare conditions for soldiers, among others, which have undermined efforts at defeating the insurgents. Military authorities have both down-played and denied these internal challenges. The result is frequent mutiny by soldiers. This paper examines the drivers, dynamics, and responses to mutiny within the Nigeria Army in the context of ongoing counterinsurgency (COIN) operation in the northeast. Anchored on the analytical framework of Tactical Communication Strategy, the paper contends that resort to mutiny is a strategy by soldiers to open up dialogue with the military authority and communicate to the public the internal factors that account for battlefield failures. Hence, the paper recommends that soldiers’ welfare be given high priority rather than resort to punitive measures.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. Campbell, ‘Nigeria Security Tracker”; Bukarti, “The Origins of Boko Haram- and why it Matters.”
2. J.O. Bolarinwa, “International Reactions and Actions on Militancy and Insurgency in Nigeria Since 1999.”
3. Oshita. Alumona and Onuoha, eds. Internal Security Management in Nigeria: Perspectives, Challenges and Lessons.
4. International Crisis Group, “Nigeria: The Challenge of Military Reform.”
5. Onuoha, Nwangwu and. Ugwueze “Counterinsurgency operations of the Nigerian Military and Boko Haram Insurgency: Expounding the Viscid Manacle.”
6. Sawyerr, “Why the Boko Haram war is Dragging”; Gray and Adeakin, “The Evolution of Boko Haram: From Missionary Activism to Transnational Jihad and the Failure of the Nigerian Security Intelligence Agencies.”
7. Abubakar, “Strategic Communications, Boko Haram, and Counter-Insurgency.”
8. Rose, “The Anatomy of Mutiny,” 561; Dwyer, “Tactical Communication: Mutiny as a Dialogue in West and Central Africa,”7.
9. Sawyerr, “Why the Boko Haram war is Dragging,” 22.
10. Bappah, “Nigeria”s military failure against the Boko Haram Insurgency.”
11. Gray and Adeakin, “The Evolution of Boko Haram: From Missionary Activism to Transnational Jihad and the Failure of the Nigerian Security Intelligence Agencies.”
12. Oyewole, “Making the Sky Relevant to Battle Strategy: Counterinsurgency and the Prospects of Air Power in Nigeria.”
13. See note 3 above.
14. Barlow, “The Rise and Fall- and Rise Again of Boko Haram.”
15. Onuoha, Nwangwu and Ugwueze, “Counterinsurgency operations of the Nigerian Military and Boko Haram Insurgency: Expounding the Viscid Manacle.”; Oriola, “Nigerian Soldiers on the War against Boko Haram.”
16. Dwyer, Soldiers in Revolt: Army Mutinies in Africa.; Schiel, et al, “Mutiny in Africa, 1950–2018.”
17. Mazrui, and Rothchild, “The Soldier and the State in East Africa: Some Theoretical Conclusions on the Army Mutinies of 1964.”; Killingray, “The Mutiny of the West African Regiment in the Gold Coast, 1901.” and Baynham, “The East African Mutinies of 1964.”
18. Schiel, et al, “Mutiny in Africa, 1950–2018.”
19. See note 15 above.
20. Kaldor, “In Defence of New Wars.”
21. See note above 19.
22. Pointed out by anonymous reviewer.
23. Clardie, “The Impact of Military Spending on the Likelihood of Democratic Transition Failure: Testing Two Competing Theories.”
24. Dwyer, “Burkina Faso”s Coup makers Capitalised on wider Grievances within the Ranks.”
25. (Maringari 2016 cited in Schiel, Powell, and Faulkner Citation2020).
26. See note 18 above.
27. Dwyer, “Borrowed Scripts: Democratisation and Military Mutinies in West and Central Africa.”
28. Ouedraogo, “Advancing Military Professionalism in Africa.” and Johnson, “Things Fall Apart: The Determinants of Military Mutinies.”
29. Dwyer, Soldiers in Revolt: Army Mutinies in Africa.
30. Johnson, “Things Fall Apart: The Determinants of Military Mutinies,” 11.
31. See note 8 above.
32. See note 29 above.
33. Rose, “The Anatomy of Mutiny.”
34. See note 29 above.
35. Mazrui, and Rothchild, “The Soldier and the State in East Africa: Some Theoretical Conclusions on the Army Mutinies of 1964,” 83.
36. See note 33 above, 562.
37. Dwyer, “Peacekeeping Abroad, Trouble Making at Home: Mutinies in West Africa.”
38. See note 36 above and Krieg, “The UAE”s “Dogs of War”: Boosting a Small State Regional Power Projection.”
39. Verweijen “Soldiers without an Army? Patronage Networks and Cohesion in the Armed Forces of the DR Congo.”
40. Hechter,Pfaff, and Underwood. “Grievances and the Genesis of Rebellion: Mutiny in the Royal Navy, 1740 to 1820,” 167.
41. See note 4 above, 9.
42. Ibid.
43. See note 39 above.
44. Granovetter, Mark. “Threshold Models of Collective Behaviour.”
45. Dwyer, “Tactical Communication: Mutiny as a Dialogue in West and Central Africa,” and See notes 27, 29, and 36 above.
46. Dwyer, “Tactical Communication: Mutiny as a Dialogue in West and Central Africa,”
47. See note 29 above, 8.
48. See note 45 above.
49. See note 29 above, 8.
50. See note above 19.
51. Pyman, et al, Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption Risk in Defence Establishments,” and Taragev, “Enabling Factors and Effects of Corruption in the Defence Sector.”
52. Willett, “Defence Expenditures, Arms Procurement and Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
53. See note above 19.
54. Tagarev, “Enabling Factors and Effects of Corruption in the Defence Sector “ 76.
55. Ibid., 77.
56. Transparency International. “The Common Denominator: How Corruption in the Security Sector Fuels Insecurity in West Africa”.
57. Pyman et al., Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption Risk in Defence Establishments.”
58. Oriola, “Nigerian Soldiers on the War against Boko Haram.”
59. Saliu & Omotola, “Can Nigeria get a UN Security Council Seat?”; Eke, Why this Charity begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria”s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-Insurgency Operations,” and Ogunnubi & Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria be Africa”s Hegemon?”.
60. Ogunnubi & Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria be Africa”s Hegemon?”.
61. Alli, “Nigeria in Regional Security Policy.”
62. PM News. “Sirleaf replaces Nigerian Army General with Liberian.”
63. MacDougall, “Too Small to Succeed? Liberia”s new army comes of age.”
64. See note 59 above.
65. Saliu & Omotola, “Can Nigeria get a UN Security Council Seat?”.
66. See note 4 above.
67. Premium Times, “Nigeria re-elected UN Peacekeeping Committee Chair.”
68. Although Oriola (2021, p.9) notes that “peacekeeping missions are qualitatively different from combat missions” as we may add, in counterinsurgency context too.
69. Eke, Why this Charity begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria”s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-Insurgency Operations,”; See note 4 above.
70. Powell, “Regime Vulnerability and the Diversionary Threat of Force.”
71. See note above 65.
72. Eke, Why this Charity begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria”s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-Insurgency Operations,” and See notes 14 and 15 above.
73. Eke, Why this Charity begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria”s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-Insurgency Operations.”
74. See note 5 above.
75. Anderson and Page, “Weaponising Transparency: Defence Procurement Reform as a Counterterrorism Strategy in Nigeria.”
76. See note above 40., 11.
77. See note 74 above.
78. Premium Times, “Buhari orders arrest of ex-NSA Dasuki, others indicted in arms contract report.”
79. Ibid.
80. See note 5 above.
81. Premium Times, “Reps to investigate mass resignation in Nigerian Army.”
82. See note above 79.
83. Munshi, “Under Fire: Why Nigeria is Struggling to defeat Boko Haram.”
84. Owolabi, “INVESTIGATION:How soldiers fighting Boko Haram beg for food and sleep in classrooms.”
85. Vanguard, “True story of Metele attacks, by surviving soldiers.”
86. Adeoye, et al, “2020: Military, Police to Spend 91% of budgets on Salaries, others.”
87. Amaefule, “Boko Haram:Jonathan bought refurbished, expired weapons, says FG.”
88. See notes 7 above; Adebayo, “1962 Official Secret Act: Army vows to punish erring officers for leaking information.”
89. See note 7 above.
90. See note 10 above.
91. Jibueze, “Cameroon kills 27 militants to save 480 Nigerian troops,” 1.
92. See note 84 above.
93. See note 10 above, 7.
94. SB Morgen, “Stalemate: Boko Haram”s New Strategy requires it to commit fewer attacks.”
95. Ogundipe, “EXCLUSIVE: Untold Story of Boko Haram”s deadly attacks on Nigerian troops in Borno, Yobe.”
96. Akinkuotu, “Army holds private burial for 100 Soldiers killed by Boko Haram.”
97. Parkinson, “Nigeria Buries Soldiers at Night in Secret Cemetery.”
98. BBC, “Boko Haram Crisis: Is the Nigerian Army Failing?”.
99. Vanguard, “Court Marshal passes verdict demoting Capt. Aroye.”
100. See note 57 above.
101. Premium Times, “How I Headed a Neglected and Poorly Equipped Military, By Alex Badeh.”
102. See note 45 above, 9.
103. The Guardian. “Nigerian Soldiers lash out in video after bloody Boko Haram attack.”
104. See note 29 above, 44.
105. Desert Herald, “Soldiers of 202 Battalion threatens action, says they have spent over 5 years in a letter to Buhari.”
106. Sahara Reporters, “From Borno, Soldiers writes Buhari about “Deadly, Lethal, Gruesome” Corruption by Army Generals.”
107. Nwezeh, “Army Dispels Mutiny in North-East, Troops Pledges Loyalty to President.”
108. International Centre for Investigative Reporting, “Army Postpones Trial of 60 new Mutineer, As Group calls for Probe.”
109. Akintola, “Free Soldiers Charged for Refusing to fight Insurgency without Adequate Weapons.”
110. See note above 35., 572.
111. See note above 99.
112. See note 33 above.
113. See notes 29 and 33 above.
114. Thompson,“Mutiny, Desertion and State Response in the Nigerian Armed Forces and its Implications.”
115. See note 29 above, 177.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Patrick Afamefune Ikem
Patrick Afamefune Ikem is currently rounding off his PhD in International Relations, Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. His research interest covers Religion and Politics, Electoral Studies and Security, International Relations and Military Studies.
Freedom C. Onuoha
Freedom C. Onuoha is a security consultant and senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, He is widely published in both local and international journals such as: African Affirs, Security Journal, African Security Review, Democracy and Security among others.
Herbert C. Edeh
Herbert C. Edeh is a senior lecturer Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He ia well published in both local and international journals.
Olihe A. Ononogbu
Olihe A. Ononogbu is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with focus on International Relations, foreign policy and gender issues.
Chukwuemeka Enyiazu
Chukwuemeka Enyiazu is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Abia State University.