The Federal Government has been urged to deploy dismissed soldiers who have expressed readiness to fight invading Russian soldiers in Ukraine to Borno, Yobe and other states in North-East Nigeria to combat terrorists.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Adedayo Adeoye (retd.), gave the advise during an interview with The PUNCH on Friday.
He said the Nigerian Government should be proactive to motivate and re-absorb the dismissed military men to boost the insurgency war against Boko Haram and other terror groups in the North-East.
Adeoye said the planned mission of the Nigerian fighters to Ukraine was suicidal as they neither understand the Kyiv terrain nor the art of warfare in Europe.
Recall that scores of Nigerian ex-military personnel converged on the premises of the Embassy of Ukraine in Abuja on Thursday to express their readiness to join the Ukrainian side again the invading Russian forces.
EMERALDLOADED had reported that the Ukrainian Embassy told the Nigerian fighters who are willing to travel to Ukraine to fight Russian forces to provide $1,000 for ticket and visa, promising that they would be paid the price that Ukrainian soldiers are paid.
Adeoye said the ex-servicemen planning to fight Russian forces are on a suicide mission.
“What they are trying to do is suicidal. It is like the case of an ant trying to fight an elephant; what do they know about the terrain and Ukraine? They are only interested in the money. I won’t advise anybody to do that,” Adeoye said.
He added, “The Federal Government should motivate these dismissed soldiers and policemen. If they are still interested in the business of securing lives and property, let them go to the North-West and the North-East to fight terrorists and bandits. These are places they even know the terrain well enough.
“The government should encourage them to fight Nigeria’s insurgency war rather than travelling to Ukraine to face Russian soldiers.
“Generally, the government should call all the retired and dismissed soldiers who still want to come back to the Army to fight the insurgency war in the North-East and the North-West. Government should motivate them; give them good salaries, put them under insurance cover so that if anything happens to them, their families have things to fall back on.”
