Human rights lawyer, Mr.
Femi Falana (SAN), on Thursday raised the alarm over the sacking of a total of
290 soldiers by the Nigerian Army.
Falana said in a
statement that the letter of dismissal were distributed to the affected
soldiers in Jos, Plateau State, and Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday.
He said the soldier were
sacked for charges of cowardice and failure to fight Boko Haram sect without
trial before any court martial as stipulated in the Armed Forces Act.
He said the recent
sacking of the 290 soldiers who were merely subjected to orderly room trial
where they all pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against him, was
similar to the circumstances under which a batch of 200 soldiers were sacked in
December 2014.
The senior advocate
said, “I have just confirmed that a total of 290 soldiers were dismissed
yesterday by the Authorities of the Nigerian Army.
“The letters of dismissal
were distributed in Jos, Plateau State and Ibadan, Oyo state. Before the
dismissal, the soldiers were subjected to orderly room trial.
“Even though they pleaded
not guilty to the charges of cowardice and failure to fight the Boko Haram
sect, the dismissed soldiers were not tried by any court-martial in line with
the provisions of the Armed Forces Act.
“It would be recalled
that the Nigerian Army also sacked another batch of 200 soldiers in similar
circumstances in December last year (2014).”
He added that the
punishment meted out to the soldiers could not be justified in the light of
Federal Government’s failure to equip the armed forces during the period the
dismissed soldiers allegedly committed the offences.
He asked the army
authorities to reverse the sacking as it was done in breach of the fundamental
right of the soldiers to fair hearing.
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