Recently, a female soldier, Lance Corporal Jonah Comfort, was dismissed for allegedly stealing gold jewellery worth N35 million from a Nigerian Army General’s wife she was attached to in Kaduna State.
It was gathered that Comfort allegedly committed the offence recently in Kaduna.
The soldier was said to have entered the senior officer’s room, stole the jewellery, and sold it to a jeweller in Kaduna for N5 million.
This came few days after the army authorities dismissed three soldiers who were arrested by the police for armed robbery and kidnapping.
We also recall that in May, this year, the Nigerian Army sentenced a warrant officer, Danladi Shaggy, to 28 years imprisonment for stealing 3,870 rounds of 7.26 mm rounds of ammunition and an AK-47 rifle.
Other five soldiers were dismissed and two others sanctioned for various offences by a General Court martial, which sat at the 3 Armoured Division, Rukuba, Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Delivering his judgment at the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment Jos, the President of the Court, Brig. Gen. Liafis Bello, said the eight sentenced were either dismissed, demoted, or reprimanded for offences such as theft, selling of arms and ammunition, intimidation, and cheating, among others.
He pointed out that the court found the convicted soldiers guilty of the offences, having diligently considered all the allegations brought before it against the accused.
Those cases are not isolated ones as it is now commonplace to read reports of the army wielding the big stick over it’s erring officers, a marked deviation from the past where deviants were shielded even after committing crimes considered grievous by civil society.
Court martial in the Nigerian army is a legal even if routine procedure aimed at ensuring strict compliance with the dictates of the military justice system.
According to the president of the court – martial, those jailed and dismissed personnel committed offences considered to be inconsistent with service discipline, as well as against the laws of Nigeria.
He said the judgment was in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution as amended, and the Armed Forces Act (Rules of Procedure) 1972, and other extant laws, adding that the verdict followed principles of natural justice, equity and fairness.
This newspaper commends the army for this self-cleansing exercise and for going the extra mile to sanction and reprimand the rank and file found wanting in the performance of their duties as soldiers.
This action portrays the army as an institution capable of improving itself and its activities in a transparent manner. It also points to a process by the high command and which presents the army as one willing and ready to check abuses within its rank by implementing the disciplinary code in a democratic setting.
The armed forces, in all climes, is recognized for their relevance in the protection of the territorial integrity of any nation. To that extent, therefore, their legitimacy and effectiveness depend on fulfilling their mission accountably within a framework of democratic, civilian control, rule of law and respect for human rights. In addition to these, they are also always there in times of emergencies.
We are aware of the fact that the image of the country’s Army and by extension, the military, has been badly battered over the years due to its perceived human rights abuses.
The institution and its members have been severally implicated in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and sexual violence, among other abuses even though the authorities tried unconvincingly to deny them.
However, there has been a drastic reduction in litigation involving Nigerian Army personnel in recent times, which they attribute to the constant sensitization workshops on human rights conducted across the divisions and formations coupled with the impact of the desk sanctions on offenders.
While we applaud the army for this positive change in flushing out the bad eggs in their midst, there is still room for improvement especially with regard to citizens’ engagement .
Speaking recently at public forum, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, explained that some frictions were bound to occur between the military and civilians because of the influx of soldiers into civil spaces to tackle insecurity problems.
However, few days ago, the civilian staff of the Ministry of Defence in Abuja, protested alleged brutalization against their colleagues by military colleagues.
The staff said they had suffered brutalization over the years without justice being done, even though the incidents were reported.
Though the Chief of Army Staff had assured all that the Nigerian Army, under his watch, would do everything within its powers to protect and uphold the human rights of the citizens while discharging its duties, we urge him not to relent in cleansing the Augean stable.
It is also our view that going forward, detailed screening should be deployed while enlisting new intakes into the military in order to safeguard the image of the army and screen out bad elements from coming in. But enlisting so called deradicalised bandits into the army is part of the way forward.
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