Jonathan’s govt provoked soldiers into mutiny — Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of deliberately provoking Nigerian soldiers into mutiny by its actions and turning round to arrest and prosecute the soldiers.

He said the past administration, while fighting terrorists, sent soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition.

Buhari made the accusation in an interview he granted the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation and monitored by Punch.

He said his administration’s investigation into the activities of the immediate past government revealed that instead of procuring arms and ammunition for the soldiers, funds meant for the equipment were shared by government officials.

He said, “We investigated and discovered how funds that were pencilled down for arms procurement were diverted and shared by government officials who served the last administration.

“The government at that time sent the soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition to prosecute the war. That was what led some of them to mutiny. They were arrested and detained because of this.”

Despite the December deadline he had earlier given the military to end terrorism in the affected part of the country, Buhari admitted that the country might not win the war completely by the end of the month.

He however said a lot of progress had been made by the military.

He said the terrorists themselves were aware that they could no longer take over communities and local governments like they were doing under the past administration.