Military wives and children in the restive Nigerian city of Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Monday 11 August, 2014 took to the streets burning tyres to prevent their husbands’ deployment to fight Boko Haram.
About 300 women and 500 children for two days gathered at the gates of a military base in Borno state capital, claiming that their spouses were ill-equipped to take on the armed group.
One of the protesters, Thabita John said, “no weapons for husbands, no trip to Gwoza or any volatile place. We are tired of burying our loved ones,”
She added that the soldiers were “ill-equipped to fight the dreaded Boko Haram”.
Another soldier’s wife, Rahina Ali, added: “Our husbands are always given inferior weapons while the Boko Haram have superior weapons.”
The military wives had staged a similar protest on Saturday, 9 August, 2014 to press home their demand for sophisticated weapons to their husbands before sending them to face dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Boko Haram has been waging a brutal insurgency since 2009 which has left thousands of people dead, despite a state of emergency imposed in three northeast states in May 2013 by Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Although a military offensive few weeks before 2015 presidential election regained lost ground from the Islamic sect, but Jonathan’s failure to get to grips with the scourge was seen as critical in his defeat,
Speaking in Abuja a day after his victory over the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, in a largely peaceful election that was applauded by Barack Obama, David Cameron, Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders, the former military dictator, Muhammadu Buhari promised to crush Boko Haram sect.
But years later, the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists groups had been escalated. For the first time in 2020, residents of Maiduguri publicly directed their anger at President Buhari, when he was booed over rising insecurity and killings by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state.
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