About 24 soldiers, who were dismissed from the Nigerian Army in December 2015, have cried out to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to intervene in their case.
The soldiers, who belong to the 118 Task Force, alleged that they were wrongfully dismissed from the service by their commanding officer.
Counsel for the soldiers, Mr. Johnson Oyewole, claimed that the soldiers were dismissed from service without facing a board of inquiry. The commanding officer allegedly dismissed them for staying away from duty without orders, which he said contravened military law.
The petition dated January 6, 2016 was addressed to the Chief of Army Staff and copied to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, and the Minister of Defence, Brig.Gen Dan Ali (retd.)
Oyewole said that the travails of the soldiers started when their battalion was sacked by the Boko Haram insurgents while they were on their way to the Damasak area of Borno State late last year.
Oyewole said that the attack which resulted in casualties on the side of the battalion made the remaining soldiers to retreat to Gubio, a local government area in Borno State.
According to him, the commanding officer sent a civilian trailer to Gubio with a directive to move them to Baga Cross which some of the soldiers resisted.
He said that apart from the fact that the trailer lacked the capacity to move the soldiers to the intended location, the soldiers were of the view that it would be suicidal to be conveyed in a civilian trailer to the warfront.
Oyewole stated that the commanding officer later sent a military truck to them to move them from Gubio to Baga Cross after which he charged and dismissed them for not reporting for duty for six days and desertion from the army on December 13, 2015.
The embattled soldiers whose names appeared on the petition comprise seven corporals, ten lance corporals and seven private soldiers.
The corporals are Endurance Ekparba, Onyile Jeremiah, Johnny Donnish, Francis Obi, Uche Eke, Bitrus Ntasiri and Chima Rapheal.
Oyewole listed the 10 lance corporals as Timothy Adeleye, Felix Musa, Nande Samson, Segi Inemotimi, Bashir Lawal, Morgak Sagak, Inubile Yunusa, Nafiu Ahmed, Balogun Sunday and Madu Oniuenyin.
The private soldiers are Shaba Muhammad, Joshua Yohanna, Obasi Enyinanya, Osam Loveday, Okon Solomon, Albar Amishe and Sani Yusuf.
He said that he had to petition the Chief of Army Staff on behalf of the dismissed soldiers in consonance with Section 147 (2) which allows those dismissed to petition the authorities within one month of the action.
“A person convicted and sentenced summarily may petition against the findings or award or both to the authority not later than one month after the findings or award was made,” he said.
He called on Buratai to look into the case of the affected soldiers, insisting that their dismissal was wrongful.
Oyewole, who maintained that his clients were not cowards, added that the soldiers were determined to continue with the fight against the insurgents.
