Respite may have come for military officers and soldiers that have either been dismissed or standing trials
before courts marshal for acts of insubordination, cowardice,
mutiny and related offences, as the new Chief of Staff, Major General Tukur Buratai is believed to have started a process of reviewing all the cases.
This is coming on the heels of the
constitution of a committee by Buratai to review all the cases involving some soldiers who had been convicted or still standing trial in the three General Military Courts Martial in Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja. He is also reported to have dissolved all the ongoing General Military Courts Martial in the country.
A Sunday Punch report says the officers and soldiers involved are expected to report at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, for the screening exercise.
The report, quoting a military source, said the committee which would begin sitting on August 7, would sit for
25 days for a holistic re-visitation of the cases involved in the operation, adding that a good number of the soldiers might be given a second opportunity to continue their careers in the military.
It was also reported that those who might be lucky enough to benefit from the second chance from the new Army
Chief will likely be given a short retraining exercise and given
the opportunity to join their colleagues in the fight against the insurgents.
The military source said: “The new Army
Chief has constituted a committee to revisit the cases of all officers and men of the Nigerian Army who are either dismissed or undergoing trial in various General Military Courts Martial for
alleged offences committed in the ongoing war against Boko Haram.
“I think the directive involved those
dismissed without trial in their various formations, those tried and dismissed and those still facing trial. The cases are general, they involve cases from the military operation in the North East.
“Those to report in the NDA would be given the opportunity of retraining and being brought back into the
campaign against insurgency.”
Speaking on the issue, Army’s Acting Director, Public Relations, Col. Sani Umar, confirmed that the Army was
reviewing “all recent disciplinary cases due to wave of litigations by some aggrieved personnel.”
He however added that the directive does not mean a total recall of dismissed and deserter soldiers.
-Daily Post Nigeria
