Take your time and search Vanguard website you will be shocked !!!
Vanguard Newspaper needs to come out to clarify when they published this news with this recent image of dead Nigerian soldier heroes.
The dark oil on their faces are used for embalming to prevent smell and fast decomposition pending identification of the corpses. From the environment, you could see they didn't die there, they were brought there. If fire happened there, the grasses would show that. Whatever stories that would be politically cooked up, God have mercy.
Even if the image is old but it still means our soldiers were killed and they cover it up.
DEAD SOLDIERS: FABRICATIONS, LIES AND EVEN MORE LIES
By Steward Godwin Jornsen
A day ago, a photo showing some dead Nigerian soldiers surfaced on the internet. While some concluded that those were part of the missing 105 soldiers, others rejected the claim. I decided not to wade into it for two reasons: one, that it was a matter of national security; and two, November 20 was President Goodluck Jonathan’s birthday. In response to those of you that wanted my views, I have taken time to write this long article, if you are patient enough to read it all.
this is the difference between burnt and not burnt
We have read from Premium Times that 105 soldiers were feared missing. Moments later, Vanguard reported the same news. 5 hours later, Vanguard returned with a news that no soldiers were missing. However, the paper provided no new reasons, no new evidences and no identifications of the soldiers to support its new stance. It made a phone call, and that was it. The weakness of their second report made it suspicious, but at least, it reduced the panic created by the early reports. Albeit, before dawn, a new photo had emerged showing dead soldiers. A close look at their uniforms quickly could confirm that those were Nigerian soldiers. (Except for, the first person whose uniform was not so evident – my personal opinion). When you pair this photo with the earlier report by Premium Times, it was easy for Nigerians to conclude quickly that these were part of the soldiers feared missing. One does not have to see the corpses of all 105 soldiers to come to such conclusions.
While we were still attempting to figure out the truth and reliability of the stories published, a political angle quickly kicked in. This became the most pathetic part of the event that worried me. We so quickly turned the lives of our soldiers into a political game that it did not take some persons any time to come up with a quick and careless conclusion. I would rather have waited, as I did, for the Defence Ministry and the Military Spokesman to address the issue and explain to us what happened to our beloved soldiers, irrespective of when and how it happened. We understand that they are at war, and that anything terrible could happen in combat. What we do not understand are the reasons behind all the cock and bull stories we have heard from the Internet in this short time. Below is one that I found particularly annoying and worrying:
BE AWARE OF OUR ENEMIES' PROPAGANDA!
Dr Idris Ahmed wrote:
This is an Old photo of our Brave Soldiers who Died when their vehicle Collided with a Fuel Tanker at Semti village near Godowoli Town along Bauchi Potiskum Highway. The Soldiers were returning from UN/ECOMOG Operation. Look very carefully, you will notice that the Soldiers all suffered severe burns. Other Soldiers were completely burnt beyond recognition.
It was during GEJ's administration this incident took place.
This clearly debunked the false news pedalling around the social media handle.
The likes of … are misinforming the public on the purported 105 soldiers to be this.
PDP fafafa-fowl!!!
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You could even see how poorly crafted that article was. You could see how tilted it was towards politics and how they so easily moved it to the blame and fall guy called GEJ. For them, it is easy to wish any evil away as long as you can put it on GEJ. Since they did not go proving the photo as fake and “Photoshoped”, I have decided to raise some questions and observations from this article and the photo. Feel free to present your views. Please do so after you have read this whole article.
1. WHO IS DR. IDRIS AHMED? Is he the new Army Spokesman or does he represent the Ministry of Defence? If not, how is it that he alone knows of this incident, when and where it happened? How it is that no one else knew that we had soldiers, up to this staggering number, that died in a collision in Bauchi?
2. HOW OLD IS THE PHOTO? I have asked people to dig into their archives, google and provide a copy of this photo from old news reports or links that we can easily verify to prove that this is an old photo. Yes, it pains me, whether it be old or new. However, we have to go from just discarding facts as old. Pointing them out as old does not make them go away. If they are old, does that prevent them from being investigated? Doesn’t that then expose a greater degree of “COVER UPS”? Are crimes of the 80’s not being investigated in advanced countries? Why should we ignore the death of our soldiers because some fellows call it old?
3. WHAT KIND OF VEHICLE WERE THEY DRIVING? Well he said the vehicle of the soldiers collided with a fuel tanker but failed to provide the photo of the vehicle. We would love to know how our soldiers were parked into that vehicle. How many soldiers would fit into a truck? Knowing that you at war (or returning), is it remotely possible to have one drive all these soldiers into a fuel truck and the whole world did not know or hear about it? Imagine the explosion! These agile soldiers made no attempts to escape? Were they tied? Where are the ones that survived the incident? How could soldiers that survived an ECOMOG war not know how to escape from a vehicle? How could they even drive into a fuel tanker in the first place? Who was driving? I have been banging my head over this. Were they stored in a container? Was it an opened van? Who would put all of these men in an enclosed vehicle? How? Just how does this add up? The questions keep coming up.
4. UN/ECOMOG OPERATIONS? That these soldiers died coming back from a UN and ECOMOG operation means that the UN owes the families of these soldiers explanation as to why we or even they are just getting to know about this now. Since Dr Idris (Not Major Idris) was so aware, could he call in the UN and AU to give honour to our soldiers and have them treated as heroes? I do not know our map well, maybe those of you who know could explain how Bauchi is the road back from an ECOMOG war. If these soldiers had died in the US or EU, they would have all been given heroes burials. This indicts the UN and AU and not just GEJ (if at all). They now owe us an explanation as to what happened with our dear soldiers.
5. WHERE IS THE FUEL TANKER? Before we start grabbing the UN by the throat, which I would love to do if this was their operation, where is the fuel tanker? The photo or no other have surfaced showing the fuel tanker? Didn’t the army take evidence of the cause of death? So where did Commander Idris and his colleagues get the fuel Tanker story from? A UN/ECOMOG contingent collides with a fuel tanker and no reports on CNN, BBC, ALJAZEERA and others? Honestly, should people even take us as dummies, there are stories they should not tell us. Where is the photo evidence taken of the fuel tanker? You could go harvest one from the internet and we would track it. Who owned the tanker that killed our soldiers? That’s another place to name GEJ.
6. BURNT BEYOND RECOGNITION? This angle pained me much. The writer asked us to look carefully but failed to do so himself. He reports that the soldiers were burnt beyond recognition. However, you look carefully. Do those faces look like faces that cannot be identified or recognised? It is obvious that those soldiers did not die there. Burnt there, the grasses would tell. Or did they? Is the vehicle beside them the tanker or the vehicle conveying them? You could see how neat the white sheet they are kept on is.
I also do not completely agree that these men died of chemical weapons. I hate to give bad guys or terrorists unwarranted credits. They would claim that for themselves. What we see on their faces and skin look very much like oil, particularly crude oil, which is likely used for embalming the bodies to prevent quick decomposition and to keep insects and smell away. In fact, these soldiers are lined up there for IDENTIFICATION. Bottom left shadow, middle left shadow, and the soldier on the top show that they are identifying these bodies. I do not want to conclude hastily if they were properly or improperly identified (that is not my job). Identification of any dead soldier is important so their families and units are notified.
When you say: “BURNT BEYOND RECOGNITION” you quickly believe everyone would fall for the cliché. I have placed a photo of a fuel tanker accident that happened in Asaba and photos surfaced same day with this photo. Can you see what BURNT BEYOND RECOGNITION looks like on the victims? How in the world were these soldiers burnt beyond recognition while their military uniforms were still intact on their bodies? How come the fire respected their uniforms? Are their bodies charred? That phrase drove me to conclude that this story by Idris is simply concocted and an abuse of the lives of these soldiers who, perhaps, died fighting gallantly for this country. So discard them as soldiers who died by fuel tanker insults the very reason they risk their lives for us and for our country. I must appeal that no matter what we do, we must not take away from the army the respect that they deserve from us as a nation.
7. IT WAS DURING GEJ? I expected that. A friend of mine who is a key APC person said he put up a call to the military, and was told the incident happened a long time ago. I can rely on his call, he posted it in a comment. Now he didn’t say when it happened and how it happened. Therefore, there is possibility that these soldiers died in a different case scenario, but don’t the Nigerian people deserve to know when and how? Don’t we deserve to give these soldiers hero’s burials? We know how soldiers are treated in other countries; can’t we treat our soldiers equally when they spend their lives fighting for our safety and security?
The usual blame it on GEJ has started. In fact, someone said it happened in 2012 and that was it. He provided no evidence, no link, no related stories, no proof, NOTHING. As soon as he said that, his followers went with it. They died in 2012. So I asked, these soldiers died in 2012 under the much hated and vilified Jonathan and Sahara Reporters missed it? Premium Times, The Nations, The whole Nigerian Mainstream Media, CNN, BCC, Aljazeera all missed it? El-Rufai who called them Jonathanian armies on his Tweet missed it also? Amnesty International didn’t hear also? That must have been a miracle, to have had these amount of soldiers die of collision in a NIGERIAN SOIL. They had returned as victors and it was in Bauchi that they collided and died (so easily forgotten). The photo came out of Bauchi for the incident happened there, right? No Bauchi citizen had a copy before now? Bauchi over to you!
This hatred for GEJ is doing something to many people. It is sure giving them nightmares. There are no kinds of stories that have not been created and put on this man as a robe. I still wonder how he survives it. No past Nigerian President has been so vilified as this man, yet he manages to win the love and praise of Nigerians as we saw the social media ground to a halt for him on 20th November 2015. It is a fact that cannot be argued. So cook up a few more stories. I can tell you, spending your time drafting fictions to nail a man would only earn you a bad name yourself. On the PDP angle, I shall leave the party to defend themselves – that is their business.
8. EVIDENCES: You cannot use falsehood to defend or combat falsehood. We have lost soldiers, if the point here is to prove that it happened at an earlier date, provide the link that reported it. Do anything, if you care, go and backdate a website or something. The point is you have to provide some evidences to justify your stance. We should not celebrate the death of our soldiers. No sane country does that. Those are fathers to children and husbands to wives who left them to fight in our defence. We cannot have them die and we think that simply wrapping it around GEJ makes it go away.
Being a soldier is as hard as it comes. Let us learn in this country to give the heroes treatments to our soldiers. An average US soldier returns and is hailed at the airport. I know many Nigerians are vexed by the way some soldiers have also treated them. I get upset with some of them also, especially on how they churn out stories of wars with Boko Haram (yes, I do). That is not the point of this article, there are many good ones out there – and they surpass the amount of rotten ones (if any). We must treat them as heroes. It is what we owe them. Let soldiers not die and we cover it up. It is traumatic and depressing. Their deaths should motivate us to fight off the insurgencies even more. Bring down one US soldier and have the US come down on you heavily. That is how it should be.
My heart goes out to the families of these soldiers as the appearance of this photo would go on to traumatise them even further. Now imagine the feeling if one had thought his dad was still alive fighting for the country and happens to see his face in one of these photos? Imagine for a moment that they read the ridiculous story that they did not die valiantly in a battle, but were knocked dead because they drove into a fuel tanker. None escaped, they did not jump out, they just stayed there and were burnt. You paint a very bad and lazy picture of our armies. Please, do us the favour of not being so badly ridiculous when you write an article. Give the article some live and make it meaningful. For the record. NEVER EVER write an article to ridicule our army. We won’t let that happen.
Please note, the thoughts expressed here are my subjective analysis of the incident and by no means translate into a formal presentation by the Ministry of Defence or a military/forensic specialist. I
GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
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