“I Fought for Nigeria, They Locked Me Underground” — Soldier Sentenced for Demanding Better Weapons to Fight Boko Haram

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The heartbreaking story of Trooper Temple Ahunanya, a Nigerian Special Forces soldier, has gone viral after revelations that he was arrested and sentenced to death simply for requesting better weapons to confront Boko Haram insurgents. According to Ahunanya, his only crime was asking for the right tools to stay alive in battle and for that, he spent a year in an underground cell, without seeing the sun.

Ahunanya enlisted in the Nigerian Army on August 20, 2012, and within months, found himself on the frontlines in Borno State, in the thick of Nigeria’s war against terrorism. He was just 20 years old and filled with patriotic zeal. But what followed was a devastating experience that, according to him, exposed the horrifying truth about how Nigerian soldiers are treated.

In his own words:

“We overpowered Boko Haram in our first clash in Damboa, but with what? Inferior weapons that jammed mid-fight.”

He recalled the frustration of using a rifle with an effective range of just 400–800 meters, while Boko Haram fighters fired at them with Browning machine guns (1,800m–7,000m range) and anti-aircraft guns (effective up to 12,000m).

“How do you win like that? You’re firing blindly while they’re picking you off from a mile away.”

Despite doing his duty and enduring deployment after deployment—from Maiduguri to Sambisa to Benisheik, Ahunanya said he repeatedly appealed to his commanders for better gear, armored vehicles, and even basic field support like nurses or first aid kits. His pleas were met with indifference.

In July 2014, during an ambush near Damboa, an RPG tore through their unarmored convoy, killing nine soldiers instantly and wounding over twenty others. He described it as a turning point a day he would never forget.

“If we had bulletproof vehicles, nobody would’ve died. Instead, we buried our brothers, again.”

Later that month, his unit received fresh orders to return to Damboa the same location of the deadly ambush with no new weapons, no armored support, and no reinforcement. When they refused to proceed until the right gear arrived, the command twisted their story, labeling it a mutiny.

“We didn’t refuse orders. We waited for support weapons. They showed up with one broken-down APC and no backup.”

Soon after, he was deceived with the claim that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) wanted to brief him. Instead, he was handcuffed, arrested, and thrown into an underground cell — a concrete pit where he says he spent an entire year, without sunlight, without due process, without justice.

“I was locked away for asking for tools to do my job. One year underground. No trial. No sun. I would peek through cracks in the wall just to see the sky it was the only thing that gave me hope.”

Ahunanya’s story isn’t just his own. It is a reflection of what many Nigerian soldiers have silently endured fighting terrorists with outdated rifles, fragile trucks, and no medical support. While insurgents deploy heavy weaponry, Nigerian troops are often left exposed, ill-equipped, and unsupported.

“These soldiers fight for Nigeria,” one commenter wrote on X, “but who fights for them?”

Public reactions to Ahunanya’s story, shared by @OzorNdiOzor, have sparked outrage across the country. The video has garnered thousands of reposts, with Nigerians demanding accountability from the military high command and justice for soldiers punished for simply trying to survive.

Ahunanya’s voice echoes the deep frustrations of a generation of servicemen left behind by a system they vowed to protect a stark reminder that patriotism, in Nigeria, can come at a very personal cost.