It was an uncommon path travelled by the Nigerian Army, with famed default inclination towards esprit de corps within its fold. The security service, penultimate weekend, dismissed two soldiers implicated in the gruesome murder of a prominent Yobe Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Goni Aisami.
The army announced summary dismissal of Lance Cpl. John Gabriel and Lance Cpl. Gideon Adamu, who were serving at the 241 Recce Battalion in Nguru, Yobe a State, and are accused of killing Sheikh Aisami on August 19. The Islamic scholar reportedly had given Gabriel a ride from a military checkpoint where he was stationed, apparently in the innocent belief that the soldier embodied security and deserved assistance for his presumed selfless service to the society. Unfortunately, that belief turned out mistaken as Gabriel allegedly turned on the scholar and killed him while trying to steal his car. Adamu was said to be complicit in the plot. The two were apprehended by the Nigeria Police Force, and they were investigated by the military police, which found them duly implicated.
In a statement, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the soldiers were dismissed after facing trial at the headquarters of 241 Recce Battalion. According to him, they were charged and summarily tried in line with Armed Forces laws for conduct prejudicial to service discipline. They were found guilty and handed penalties that included demotion from Lance Corporal to Private rank, as well as dismissal. “The two dismissed soldiers will be officially handed over to the Nigeria Police, Yobe command in Damaturu for civil prosecution in the court of law,” the statement added.
By his statement, the army spokesman echoed pronouncements at a media parley in Nguru where Acting General Commanding Officer, 241 Recce Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel I. O. Sabo, had announced that the soldiers were being dismissed from the regiment and the army, and would be handed over for civil prosecution. “Obviously, these men can never represent us. We are being paid by the Nigerian taxpayers’ money to hold guns and defend this country, but these soldiers are not a true reflection of the Nigerian Army personnel. We want to assure you that we are law-abiding citizens and we want to dispense justice. If I am found wanting like these men, the same thing will happen to me,” Sabo said, adding: “What you are seeing is the ‘dekitting’ of these soldiers. We will collect all military belongings in their care and even send their families packing out of this place.”
It is a tragic irony indeed that soldiers in whom members of the public would vest confidence regarding their security allegedly turned rogue and became agents of ultimate insecurity to a well-meaning and civic minded citizen. There can be no cut more unkind than that, and it would be shocking if they had found refuge from due recompense in the military institution. With privileged access to force of arms, the military must not harbour members suspected of using that privilege access roguishly to violate society’s codes of decency, peace and safety.
It is noteworthy that by the measures taken on these two soldiers, the army toed the path of institutional accountability to the civil populace and submission to rule of law. This is commendable because the security service has not always been so disposed. A recent instance is the case of soldiers from 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Takum, Taraba State, fingered in the gunfight that attended the botched arrest of notorious criminal Hamisu Bala, (a.k.a. Wadume) by police personnel on August 6, 2019. Three policemen and two civilians were killed, with five other police officers injured in the gunfight that the army claimed to be inadvertent because soldiers involved were purportedly responding to a distress call and mistook the police personnel for kidnappers, while the arrested suspect was mistaken for a victim. The police countered, however, that the soldiers’ real motive was to free the arrested suspect at the cost of taking out the policemen who arrested him.
Upon Wadume’s rearrest and arraignment by the police, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered that the army officers charged along with him be released for trial. But the military refused to obey that order. Latest reports said the soldiers had been cleared of wrongdoing by a board of inquiry instituted by the military. Such internal mechanics had portrayed the military as insular to common justice, but the measure taken on the two dismissed soldiers might somewhat help to alter that image.