&w=64&q=75)
A retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Adedayo Adeoye, has proposed that the dismissed service men who have signified interests to fight Russian soldiers in Ukraine should be sent to Borno, Yobe and other states in North-East Nigeria to face the terrorists.
Adeoye called on the Nigerian government to be proactive and reabsorb the willing fighters in order to strengthen the campaign against Boko Haram insurgency and other terror groups operating in the North East.
He disclosed this during an exclusive interview with the Punch on Friday, March 04, 2022.
Adeoye compared the decision of the Nigerian fighters to go and confront the Russian troops in Ukraine to a suicide mission.
He questioned how they hoped to navigate the unfamiliar Kyiv terrain and also suggested that their lack of understanding of art of warfare in Europe will further complicate their plight.
Adeoye said "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.”
“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," added.
“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,” he concluded.
Recall that, earlier in the week, about 115 Nigerian youths had stormed the Ukrainian embassy in Abuja to declare their readiness to fight on the side of Ukraine against the Russian attackers.
However, the Ukrainian Embassy had told the willing Nigerian 'mercenaries' to cough out $1,000 to cover for their visa and ticket expenses, promising them equal monetary reward as the Ukrainian soldiers.