98 Soldiers Denied Reinstatement Into the Army, After President Buhari’s Directive

98 Soldiers Denied Reinstatement Into the Army, After President Buhari’s Directive

By ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna

No fewer than 98 soldiers dismissed in the heat of Boko Haram attack in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, under the Nigerian Army Operation Zaman Lafiya,  are currently roaming Kaduna streets,  having been denied reinstatement out of 4000 colleagues.

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Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that all the soldiers dismissed in 2015 for losing ammunitions to the Boko Haram insurgents in Cameroun region, be reinstated,  the Army had in a memo with reference number NA/COAS/GI/7/1 dated July 30, 2015 enacted a committee to screen and assess all cases of dismissal from Operation Zaman Lafiya.

The aggrieved soldiers  who stormed the premises of the secretariat of the Kaduna State Correspondent’s chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ) yesterday spoke through one  Warrant Officer (WO) Shehu Ibrahim .

WO Ibrahim said the Army Committee met in Jaji,  Kaduna,  scrutinised and declared them qualified to be reinstated, but to no avail,  the reason, did not know.

He  added that it was based on this clean slate that the soldiers were further moved to Kontagora on September 24, 2015 where they undergone several weeks of retraining.

The  embattled soldiers said the General Officer Commanding ( GOC ), 1 Division Nigerian Army, Kaduna,  Major General  Adeniyi Oyebade,  at a point drafted an Army Officer to investigate their matter, which he did.

But when newsmen contacted the Army  Assistant Public Relations Officer, One Division,  Colonel  Usman  Abdul on the issue, he said it is only Army Headquarters,  Abuja, that can speak on it.

WO Ibrahim said, “After the re -jabbing, a list of posting was published where the names of 98 of us out of 4000 soldiers were not included on the posting list, and we immediately brought the omission of our names to the notice of HQ NATRAC,  and our names were compiled and forwarded to the Army Headquarters for inclusion in the posting.

“Hours later, the same day, 9 of the female soldiers on our same 98 men list of omission with serial number 83-91 were singled out, posted to units and given N10,000.00 each in our presence,  whereas we the remaining 89 male soldiers were neglected in Kontagora.

“We further complained and the HQ NATRAC Commander,  Brig Gen TJ Dauke told us to write down our particulars and phone numbers and go back to our villages,  that we were going to be called upon, with no stipulation to specific date.

“We as soldiers deem it judicious and feel it is the Army/Defence Headquarters authority that is the appropriate authorities to address our situation and profer solutions to our predicament and not any other authority.

“As such,  we, after several unfruitful appeals and efforts, had to unavoidably break communication chain as we are currently not being accounted for by any unit/formation, to appeal to the Army/Defence Headquarters authority to please act urgently and come to our rescue and afford us equal opportunity and rights to the Army job as our other colleagues are already exercising.

“We were  not involved in any misconduct or offence,  neither were we charged for any offence after our reinstatement and while in Kontagora,  as our list was compiled by HQ NATRAC attests to thus fact. Thus we feel punished for no offence whatsoever.

“This case has lingered long beyond reasonable time, since October 2015,  without solution and making us as human impatient, as no one seem to attend to us anymore .

“The right time,  as it is said, for any event  is always the suitable and appropriate time, therefore we are acting promptly as this is the right time to act while the Operation Zaman Lafiya dismissed soldiers reinstatement and posting process still tarries”. 

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