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Soldiers Buying Personal Kits Not Sign Of System Failure — Major General Ayoola
A former commander of Operation Safe Haven, Major General Henry Ayoola (rtd), has dismissed claims that Nigerian soldiers purchasing personal military kits is evidence of systemic failure within the armed forces.
His comments come after a viral interview by a former soldier, Rotimi Olamilekan, popularly known as Soja Boi, who alleged that personnel buy uniforms, boots, and bulletproof vests despite low pay.
Ayoola, while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Morning Brief on Friday, explained that it is not unusual for personnel to supplement standard-issue equipment with personal purchases.
“The idea of a soldier, out of personal choice, spending money to improve their kit beyond the standard issue should not be a big deal,” he said.
He insisted that such actions do not indicate that authorities are failing in their responsibility to equip troops.
“It does not mean the system is not working. There is a standard kit that the Armed Forces provide, and that has not changed,” Ayoola argued.
According to the former commander, every soldier is entitled to a baseline level of equipment under what is known as a “full-service matching order”.
“There is a minimum standard of kit that every soldier must be given. It is not true to say that authorities are not kitting soldiers,” he added.
Ayoola acknowledged that operational realities sometimes affect the availability of equipment but emphasised that commanders make efforts to optimise resources.
“When equipment is limited, it is rationalised. There is innovation, and sometimes troops make do with what is available,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army on Tuesday dismissed allegations that its personnel purchase uniforms and protective equipment with personal funds, describing the claims as false and misleading.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no soldier is deployed to an operational theatre without the necessary protective equipment,” a statement from the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Appolonia Anele, read.
Security Challenges: A Power Struggle
Beyond the controversy over military equipment and uniforms, Ayoola argued that the broader challenge facing Nigeria is often misunderstood and misrepresented.
He maintained that insecurity in the country should not be viewed solely through a military lens but rather as part of a deeper structural issue.
“What we are dealing with in Nigeria is not just a security challenge. The adversary has shaped a narrative that we have come to accept without properly interrogating it,” he said.
According to him, the crisis reflects a wider struggle rooted in power dynamics and competing ideologies.
“The real issue is a political power problem. The Nigerian situation is a local manifestation of a global trend—a clash of civilisations,” Ayoola stated.
He criticised the country’s approach to tackling insecurity, noting that the failure to clearly define the problem has led to ineffective solutions.
“You cannot solve a problem you have not defined. What we have been doing is like cutting branches without uprooting the tree,” he said.
On concerns about troop vulnerability, including ambush incidents, Ayoola pointed to increasing technological support in military operations.
“There has been increased use of ISR—Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance—drones to cover flanks and move ahead of troops, which helps minimise ambushes,” he said.
He insisted that while improvements are always needed, the narrative that soldiers are left entirely unequipped is inaccurate.
Ayoola stressed that a lack of consensus on who the country’s true adversaries are continues to undermine national security efforts.
“If we cannot clearly define who the enemy is and what they want, then we will continue chasing shadows,” he warned.
By Augustine Akhilomen
…Accuses NNPCL Of Lacking Transparency And Attempting To Hide The Details Of The Deal
Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has demanded the immediate suspension of the deal between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Chinese firms aimed at reviving the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
Atiku, through his media aide Phrank Shaibu on Friday, criticized the partnership as an “opaque” and “dangerous gamble” with Nigeria’s economic future.
He accused the NNPCL of lacking transparency and attempting to hide the details of the deal, similar to previous controversial agreements.
Atiku referred to the Chinese firms, identified as Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd, as unknown entities lacking the credibility for such a massive project.
“It is both shocking and insulting that after wasting over $2.5 billion on endless refinery rehabilitation scandals, the NNPC is once again asking Nigerians to trust another experiment built on secrecy and questionable competence,” Atiku stated.
“There is no publicly available evidence anywhere in the world showing that Sanjiang has ever built, operated, or managed a full-scale crude oil refinery of the magnitude and complexity of Port Harcourt or Warri refineries.
“Processing petrochemical derivatives is not the same as running an aging national refinery burdened with decades of operational decay,” Atiku noted.
Also, Atiku said the second Chinese firm, Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd., appears to have absolutely no verifiable experience in petroleum engineering, refinery operations, or hydrocarbon processing.
“By every available corporate and industry record, Xingcheng is essentially an industrial park and infrastructure management company — the equivalent of handing over a hospital’s intensive care unit to a real estate developer simply because they can construct buildings,” the statement added.
“It is unacceptable that after years of failed turnaround maintenance scams, billions of dollars squandered, and repeated lies about refinery functionality, Nigerians are now being told to celebrate a memorandum of understanding signed with companies whose core expertise does not align with the technical realities of refinery rehabilitation.
“Nigerians must not allow the same people who destroyed the refineries through incompetence and corruption to now hide behind vague Chinese partnerships to continue the cycle of deception,” he said.
“The era where NNPC signs opaque agreements abroad and expects Nigerians to clap blindly is over.
“National assets are not toys for bureaucratic experimentation. The Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are too strategic to be surrendered to uncertainty, obscurity, and corporate guesswork”, he stated.
Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold has revealed that he is a descendant of King Kosoko of Lagos, a 19th-century monarch who resisted British colonial forces when they first arrived in Nigeria.
Gold made the disclosure in an interview on Great Day Houston, a morning show on KHOU 11 television in Houston, Texas, which was published on YouTube on Thursday.
On his royal lineage, he said his ancestor fought the British when they first entered Nigeria through Lagos, was driven into exile, and eventually returned victorious.
“My progenitor used to be king of Lagos. His name is King Kosoko. He fought the British when they first came to Nigeria through Lagos to try to take our things, then he fought, went to exile, and came back, and then still won,” he said.
Gold, who is from the Yoruba tribe, was born in Lagos.
The singer also revealed that his stage name was given to him by God through a church sermon.
He said he had been searching for one and had taken the matter to God in prayer when the answer came during a church sermon.
“I told God, I need a name,” he said.
He said a preacher repeated the same phrase three times during the sermon, and he took it as a divine signal.
“Something just told me it must have been God. God told me at that point that that’s your name,” he said.
Gold said he settled on the name immediately after.
“I said, okay, you know what, just make it Adekunle Gold, and it’s very befitting of me,” he said.
Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the no-case submission made by activist, Omoyele Sowore, in the cyberbullying charge brought against him by the Department of the State Services, DSS.
DSS had charged Sowore for cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu.
The court upheld the DSS charges against Sowore for allegedly calling Tinubu a “criminal” in his Twitter handle and ordered him to enter his defense.
Justice Umar dismissed the no case submission on Friday while ruling on the application made by the activist.
Sowore had filed the no case submission and prayed the court to discharge and acquit him from the two-count charge.
In the ruling, Justice Umar held that the DSS had successfully linked Sowore with the alleged offences, adding that a prima facie case had been established against him to warrant him to enter a defense.
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