GUEST OF
HONOUR IS:
Abdul Muhammed
Esq
Principal,
Abdul Muhammed
Law practice,
P/Harcourt
Rivers
State.
PRESS STATEMENT
ABUSE
OF OFFICE BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NIGERIAN MILITARY IN RESPECT OF THE UNLAWFUL
AND WRONGFUL COMPULSORY RETIREMENT OF 38 SENIOR ARMY OFFICERS ON 9 JUNE 2016
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press:
1) Introduction
a)
It is a matter of public record
that at the beginning of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, two
panels were instituted by the Nigerian Army and/or Office of National Security
Adviser respectively, to inquire into (1) allegations of electoral malpractices
by Nigerian Army personnel and (2) allegations of corruption associated with
arms procurement under the office of National Security Adviser. Furthermore on
Thursday June 9. 2016 the Nigeria Army Council under the leadership of the
troika of the Minister of Defense, Mr. Mansur Dan Ali, Chief of Defense Staff,
General Abayomi Olonisakin and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Yusuf
Buratai presided over an abrupt sitting of the Army Council and they saw to the
punishment by compulsory retirement of 38 senior officers of the Nigerian Army.
b)
We all acknowledge that
Nigeria owes a debt of gratitude to the fighting men and women of our armed
forces, such that we must definitely show, our concern that these 38 Senior
Army Officers who have all put their very lives at risk protecting Nigeria should
be treated in such an unfair and shabby manner.
2)
By
their numbers
a)
In the list of 38 Senior Army Officers are
Nine (09) Major Generals, ten (10) Brigadier Generals, seven (07) Colonels, eleven
(11) Lieutenant Colonels and one (01) Major.
b)
None of the thirty-eight (38) senior
officers that were compulsorily retired was ever charged, tried, tried by a
court martial or found guilty of any offence in line with Armed Forces extant
rules and regulations, before they all heard of their retirement in the media. They
were never investigated for any infraction, they were never indicted, they were
never tried and they were never convicted of any disciplinary or criminal
breaches whatsoever.
c)
Eighteen (18) out of the 38 Senior Army
officers that were punished did not
appear before any one of the two panels that were set up or any other inquiry
or investigation for that matter. That is to say, they never appeared before (1)
the panel that examined allegations of electoral malpractices by Nigerian Army
personnel or (2) the panel that investigated allegations of corruption
associated with arms procurement under the office of National Security Adviser.
d)
Eight (08) of the 38 Senior Army
officers were called as witnesses before the panel that examined allegations of
electoral malpractices by Nigerian Army personnel. Eleven (11) Senior Army
officers were called as witnesses before the second the panel that investigated
allegations of corruption associated with arms procurement under the office of
National Security Adviser. It is important to note that these officers went
before the panels as witness and not as persons of interest with respect to
these investigations.
e)
Seven (07) out of the Senior Army
officers are from Rivers State; two (02) each are from Delta and Akwa Ibom
States; three (03) are from Edo State and ten (10) others are from the South
Eastern states (and of Igbo descent). In order words, twenty-four (24) of the
38 Senior Army Officers in the list are from the South South and South East
zones (63%).
3)
Several
constitutional breaches
a)
The record of the Nigeria
Army shows that there were no factual basis for punishing these officers and
that there has been a complete failure of fair hearing and due process. Many
of these officers have no relationship whatsoever with election duties or
procurement office as falsely alleged by Army leadership. They have never
served in procurement capacity throughout their careers in the Army or
participated in any form of election duties during the 2015 General Elections.
b)
None of the 38 Senior Army Officers was
allowed to enjoy the benefits of their rights and privileges which are clarly protected
to them under and by virtue of the provisions of Chapter IV f the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1990 (as amended).
c)
Per the statement contained in this
press release in paragraph 2(e) above, the wrongful dismissal of the officers
in the circumstances has resulted in the most serious breach of the provision
of Section 217(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
recorded in recent history. For example, the
complete failure of due process means that the removal of the Rivers State
Officers from the Nigerian Army on arbitrary grounds constitutes the single
most important and dangerous depletion of the population of Rivers State
indigenes in the officer corps of the Nigerian Army ever recorded in this
country.
d)
For ease of reference, I should state
that section 217(3) of the Constitution provides for the protection of federal
character as follows:
‘The composition of the officer corps and
other ranks of the armed forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal
character of Nigeria.’
4)
Wrongful
actions of the Army leadership
a) I
have the duty to point out that in the case of the 38 Senior Army Officers, the
present Army leadership acted maliciously and by surreptitiously substituting the
names of culpable officers with innocent ones in a gross act of corruption and
went ahead to deliberately mislead the President and Commander in Chief as well
as the entire nation on the matter.
b) The action of the troika in the matter of the 38
officers was based on pure vendetta and pursuit of opaque objectives such as
attempt to coerce officers to commit crimes in future election as motivated by
the desire to further personal ambitions and interests without any
consideration whatsoever for overall national interest and the security of
Nigeria.
c) I
must point out that Army record shows that in the
respective case of all the officers, there was either no factual basis for the
punishment and/or there was complete lack of established process leading to
their dismissals.
d)
I have the duty to point
out to the world that the report with respect to Arms Procurement was completed
and published in December 2016, which was six months after these 38 Senior
Officers had been punished by the Army Council based on involvement in Arms
Procurement saga. The panel on Arms Procurement never indicted any of these 38
officers and some of those serving officers that were recommended for further
investigation are still serving in the Army and have continued to enjoy their
promotion and privileges
5)
Glaringly
inconsistent Army leadership
This
Army leadership re-instated a Major General on the ground that due process was
not followed in punishing the said Major General, and yet this same Army leadership has now seen to the
punishment of 38 Senior Army officers in breach of due process. Very curious
indeed that the Army leadership was able to do the right thing by insisting on
due process in January 2016 for Major General A. Mohammed, and yet the Army
leadership is unable and unwilling to follow due process in June 2016 in
respect of the 38 Senior Army officers.
6)
Voices
who should speak out are silent
It
is a sad commentary on how this country treats her men and women in uniform that
justice and fairness has been withheld from these wrongfully and shabbily
treated 38 Senior Army Officers in a period of more than 12 months after their
unlawful dismissals and voices that should speak out on this matter of grave
national security have remained silent.
7)
President
Buhari must act now to check the injustice
a) When the Commander-in-Chief had requested the Army
leadership to inquire into weighty issues of allegations of misconduct about
service personnel, the duty (at a minimum) of the troika of Minister Mansur Dan
Alli, General Abayomi Olonisakin and Chief of Army staff Yusuf Buratai should be
to execute the noble intentions of the President and not to sabotage the
President’s instruction by seeing to the punishment of innocent officers while
leaving the culpable ones to walk free. Properly construed, the actions of Army
Leadership in the circumstances is clearly designed and effective to ridicule
the change agenda of your government and to bring fritter away the hard earned
reputation of Mr. President for probity, justice and fairness.
b) In the circumstances the President is urged to authorize
the immediate re-instatement of the 38 retired Senior Army Officers into the
Nigerian Army pending an urgent and impartial investigation into all the
allegations in this petition. We submit that careful review of the facts and
circumstances of this petition speak to the necessity of the institution of
disciplinary procedures against those high officials that were involved in the
illegal and or sham retirement exercise.
Thank
you for your kind attention.
Dated
at Abuja the 28th day of August, 2017
ABDUL MUHAMMED
ESQ.
Principal,
ABDUL MUHAMMED LP
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