Nigerian Army Sacking Of 290 Soldiers: Reaction By Femi Falana
I have just confirmed that a total of 290 soldiers were dismissed yesterday by the Authorities of the Nigerian Army. The letters of dismissal were distributed in Jos, Plateau State and Ibadan, Oyo state. Before the dismissal, the soldiers were subjected to orderly room trial.
Even though they
pleaded not guilty to the charges of cowardice and failure to fight the Boko
Haram sect the dismissed soldiers were not tried by any court-martial in line
with the provisions of the Armed Forces Act. It would be recalled that the
Nigerian Army also sacked another batch of 200 soldiers in similar
circumstances in December last year.
Apart from the
deliberate refusal of the military authorities to respect the fundamental right
of the dismissed soldiers to fair hearing guaranteed by the Constitution, the
punishment meted out to them cannot be justified since the Federal Government
failed to equip the armed forces at the material time.
Indeed, the belated
onslaught launched against the satanic Boko Haram sect by the Nigerian Army has
been attributed to the military hardware recently acquired by the Government.
As the soldiers are ill-equipped to handle the weapons the military authorities
have admitted that "military instructors" have been engaged from
South Africa to train them.
In the light of the foregoing, the Authorities of the Nigerian
Army should annul the illegal letters and recall the dismissed soldiers without
any delay. In the alternative, a programme should be designed for the
rehabilitation of the dismissed soldiers. Otherwise, many of them may be driven
to criminality since they had been given military training at the expense of
the nation.
Femi Falana SAN
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