Military denies burying soldiers in mass grave

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah
| credits: www.nigerreporters.com

The military high command on Tuesday denied reports that soldiers who got killed in action in the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the North-East were being buried in mass graves.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, denied the claim while fielding questions from journalists at a press briefing organised by the Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusau, on the 2015 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration in Abuja on Tuesday.

Badeh, who spoke first on the issue raised by journalists that the military had not been giving celebrated burials to those killed in battle, said that the claim was not true.

He then handed over the microphone to Minimah to react to the issue.

Minimah, after receiving the microphone, said that soldiers who got killed in battle were given befitting burial on the battlefront or in any military cemetery nearest to the field of operations in line with the policy of the Nigerian Army.

The Army chief explained that the military had also ensured that the families of fallen soldiers, especially their next-of-kin were invited to attend such burials.

He added that it was the policy of the Nigerian Army to bury soldiers who got killed in action and in battle in cemeteries nearest to the area of operation.

The Army chief explained that there was a difference in attendance between burials organised at the National Cemetery and those that took place on the battlefront or at any military cemetery in the areas of operation.

He said that the military had to reject moves by some families to claim the corpses of their fallen relatives in line with the Army policy and also due to the fact that the corpses from natural death were not the same as those killed in action.

He said, “I disagree with you. There is no discreet burial; burials are burials, they are either well attended or poorly attended. Now, if there is a national burial at the National Cemetery, of course, it would come with fanfare, and the press will be there. But if burials are done at the 7 Division Cemetery in Maiduguri, I am sure even the press will be a little reluctant to be there.

“But the most important thing is that a burial was done, the deceased received a full military burial with military regalia and professionalism at times. And in all cases, members of the family, especially the next-of-kin are always invited to witness such burial.

“Now I know what must have led to this discussion. Officers and soldiers who are killed in action, who died on the battlefront are not taken home for burial. They are buried in the cemetery nearest to the theatre of action. That is the policy of the Nigerian Army and it didn’t start today.

“I know there is still some level of agitation by some families aspiring to take custody of their deceased relatives for burial at home. We declined. Nevertheless, deaths occasioned by natural causes or outside the battlefield are handed over to the next-of-kin for burial. But those killed in action, fallen in action, fallen on battlefield, would take purely military burial and such burials are also done in the theatre closest to the field.

“Now, a more pathetic side of it which I must tell you is that ‘killed in action’ bodies are not the same with natural death bodies. That is why we always buried them on the battlefield in the military cemetery, with the next-of-kin witnessing the burial.”