OVER 2,500 soldiers who were sacked for cowardice or insubordination in the fight against Boko Haram have been reinstated into the Nigerian Army after a review panel looked at their cases again.
Within the last year, the Nigerian Army has stepped up the prosecution of soldiers for numerous offences committed in the fight against the insurgency. Among the offences they were charged with include mutiny, cowardice and insubordination, with hundreds of soldiers sacked, some imprisoned and others sentenced to death.
Last week, Nigerian Army recalled over 2,500 soldiers after a review panel sitting in Kaduna screened and reinstated 102 officers, who were sentenced or facing prosecution in relation to the operations in the northeast. These reinstated soldiers and officers have already commenced retraining at the Nigerian Army Training Centre in Kontangora, Niger State.
According to the Nigerian Army, the 2,500 soldiers were among the over 4,000 who responded to a memo from the authorities inviting them for a review of recent disciplinary cases, which emanated from the counter terrorism operations. However, Col Sani Usman, the acting director of army public relations, cautioned that the directive to review disciplinary cases should not be mistaken for a total reinstatement of dismissed and deserter soldiers.
After the ongoing retraining, the army authorities would screen the affected personnel and re-activate their suspended bank accounts. In addition, the panel would also review the cases of 66 soldiers who were sentenced to death by firing squad.
However, not all the dismissed soldiers who turned up in Kaduna were lucky to have regained their jobs. Some of the soldiers, said to have been dismissed about 15 years ago for various offences, were asked to leave the venue of the review panel.
Some of these soldiers were said to have been dismissed from the army for various offences since the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Apparently, a majority of the affected soldiers were dismissed from the service for violating a law said to have forbidden army personnel from marrying foreigners.
Col Usman said that they were dismissed from the service for various offences about 15 years ago and were not part of those whose cases were meant for review. He described them as a group of mischief-makers who should have been arrested and prosecuted for disrupting the peace of the public.
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