Following the comment made by the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, that the military under his watch lacked the necessary equipment and morale to fight the insurgent Boko Haram, Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on military authorities to immediately disband the two military courts-martial sitting in Abuja and Lagos.
In 2014 when the military was having challenges containing the insurgents – losing territories, battles and weapons to them- the military authorities court-martialled several soldiers for desertion and for disobeying direct orders to engage the terrorists.
The soldiers complained of lacking necessary equipment to properly fight the insurgents. Others also complained that their superior officers were diverting their allowances.
Hundreds of soldiers were found guilty by the courts-martial and either sentenced to death by firing squad or dismissed by the military during the period.
Mr. Falana, who is the attorney to some of the condemned and imprisoned soldiers, in a statement on Sunday, said the comment by Mr. Badeh, now retired, has vindicated the soldiers. He said the ongoing courts-martial should be discontinued forthwith and the soldiers on trial discharged.
“In the light of the foregoing, we call on the military authorities to disband the two courts-martial currently sitting in Lagos and Abuja and discharge the officers and soldiers on trial. Since those who set up the military courts have admitted that they led a military which was neither equipped nor motivated to confront the well equipped enemy there is no longer any legal or moral basis for the trials,” he said.
Mr. Falana argued that the courts-martial were red herring by the military to divert attention from the inadequacies of the military. He said the military clearly confirmed the soldiers complaint by removal of the General Officer Commanding the 7th Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army based in Maiduguri, Borno State at the time.
He said the refusal of the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, to confirm the verdict of the courts-martial, which would have paved the way for it to be appealed at the Court of Appeal, was a violation of the constitution and the Armed Forces Act.
“In view of the injustice which characterised the exercise we had pleaded with the authorities to review the exercise and pointed out that the decision to dismiss 1000 young men who had been trained to handle weapons was a threat to national security.
“Our appeal fell on deaf ears. As the action could not be justified under the Armed Forces Act we have had to approach the National Industrial Court for redress on behalf of hundreds of dismissed soldiers. The cases are pending in the court.”
Prosecute Badeh for Mutiny
Mr Falana said in the light of his comment, the ex-defence chief, should be charged with mutiny for deceiving his troops and the nation as well as for demobilising troops under the false claim that the Federal Government had reached a truce with Boko Haram.
He said Mr Badeh justified the trials of the soldiers by claiming that “a soldier with a rifle cannot claim to be under-equipped.”
“Apart from setting up courts-martial to divert attention and cover up the short comings of the military authorities Marshal Badeh engaged in deceiving the troops and the nation. For instance, on May 27, 2014, he raised the hope of the traumatised parents of the Chibok girls when he claimed that ‘The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you. Just leave us alone to do our work. We are working to get the girls back.’
“As if that was not enough, Marshal Badeh addressed a world press conference on October 17, 2014 wherein he disclosed that the Federal Government had reached a truce with the Boko Haram sect and proceeded to order Nigerian soldiers to stop further attacking the terrorists in line with the terms of the ‘ceasefire.’ It turned out that the fake ceasefire was arranged by the military authorities to dupe the Federal Government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Falana also commended the army for setting up a committee to review the cases of soldiers dismissed for mutiny and other sundry offences. He said the committee should give the affected soldier proper opportunity to defend themselves.
The Nigerian Army announced on Sunday that it is reviewing the cases of all soldiers who were disciplined for various offences.
“For the avoidance of doubt it should be noted that the Nigerian Army is reviewing all recent disciplinary cases due to the wave of litigations and petitions by some aggrieved personnel,” the Acting Director of Army Public Relations said.
The spokesperson, however, added that the “public should not misconstrue the recent directive to mean total recall of dismissed and deserter soldiers.”
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