Today, 9 June 2017 marks the first anniversary of a new low achieved by the Nigerian Army in the military justice system. On this day one year ago, the Nigerian Army announced to the shock and surprise of many the retirement of 38 senior officers for alleged partisanship in the 2015 General Elections as well as involvement in the so called defence contracts scam. At that time the army spokesman stated as follows ‘We wish to state that only 38 senior officers were affected by the retirement exercise. For the avoidance of doubt, the following is the statistics of the officers retired compulsorily – nine Major-Generals, 10 Brigadier-Generals, seven Colonels, 11 Lieutenant Colonels and one Major‘.
“We are quite aware that some mischievous elements are trying to whip up sentiments. This is quite unfortunate because all the affected officers were retired based on ‘service exigencies’ and in line with the Armed Forces Act(AFA), CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
“It is pertinent to remind all that the Nigerian Army is a professional institution, which is based on highest standards of discipline and conduct. Consequently, its personnel must remain professional, neutral and apolitical at all times.”
Investigations reveal differently
Investigations have revealed that all military officers are entitled to appear before a Courts Martial to ascertain their guilt or otherwise when accused or alleged to have committed an offence. However, in this case and as a clear abuse of the rules no court martial was convened in respect of these officers. Investigation shows that nine officers that is; Maj. Gen. M.Y Ibrahim, Maj. Gen. S.D Aliyu, Maj. Gen. F.O Alli, Maj. Gen. L.I Wiwa, Maj. Gen. E.L Atewe, Brig. Gen. Mormoni-Bashir, Brig. Gen. D.M Onoyiveta, Brig. Gen A.L Onibasa and Brig. Gen D Abdusalam appeared before the arms contract panel.
While another eleven, Brig. Gen A.S.H Saad, Brig. Gen Koko Essien, Col F.D Kayode, Col D.R Hassan, Col. T.T Minimah, Lt. Col T.O Oladuntoye, Lt. Col. C.O Amadi, Lt. Col O.A Baba-Ochankpa (late), Lt. Col Egemole, Lt. Col. K.O Adimoha and Lt. Col A.S Mohamed attended the Maj. Gen. Oyebade then GOC 1 Division‘s Board of Inquiry on Election Partisanship as witnesses.
However, there were 18 officers, who were never queried, charged or appeared for investigation. They include Maj. Gen. Ijioma, Maj. Gen. Ejemai, Maj. Gen Ilo, Maj. Gen. Ude, Brig. Gen. Aghachi, Brig. Gen Fibuonuma, Brig. Gen L.M Bello, Brig Gen. I.M Lawson, Col F.E Ekpeyong, Col. O.U Nwankwo, Col. M.A Suileman, Col. C.K Ukoha, Lt. Col A Mohammed, Lt. Col G.C Nyekwu, Lt. Col D.B Dazang, Lt. Col T.E Arigbe, Lt. Col Enemchukwu and Maj. Williams. Out of them, four (Lawson, Agachi, Suleiman and Arigbe) were actually on assignment out of the country, but were also retired without fair hearing. The affected officers therefore appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Chief of Defense Staff General AG Olonisakin, against their wrongful retirement from the Nigerian Army, seeking for redress.
Breach of due process
Now this is where this matter gets more interesting, when questioned about the retirements the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Buratai said the following,‘There is no better time than now to retire the affected military officers. It took us painstaking procedure to ensure we didnt pick innocent ones. We started with one inquiry from One Division GOC to the other. After that, we subjected it legal review. After the legal review, we forwarded our recommendations to higher authorities for consideration. So it took us time; we have our own process also; our administrative process dovetailing into legal review and so on. I think this is the better time, there is no better time than now‘.
When Mr Buratai was appointed as Chief of Army Staff in July 2015 at the start of a 2 year tenure, one of the first things he did was to review disciplinary cases in the army, especially of soldiers in the defunct Operation Zaman Lafiya, North East Operations. He halted the various court martials and constituted a committee to review the cases. At the end of the review it was announced that the Nigerian Army has pardoned and reinstated a total of 3,032 soldiers out of the 5,000 that appeared before the committee. However, under his watch none of the 38 senior officers was made to appear before a court martial to determine his guilt or otherwise. It is admitted that several officers appeared before one inquiry or the other but they were not granted an opportunity for fair hearing via a courts martial where they would have been entitled legal representation and access to any charges or allegations against them. Let us not even mention those that were not queried, charged or tried, theirs is a no case submission.
In a presentation titled “Nigeria: The Military Justice System and Human Rights”, renowned Human rights activist and Lawyer Femi Falana remarked as follows; ‘The object of the AFA is twofold, namely to provide for the maintenance of discipline among the members of the Armed Forces and to provide for administrative matters. In practice, the Act is often used with reference to the disciplinary provisions alone. Erring personnel suspected of infraction(s) of the Act are either tried summarily or by courts-martial. During the summary trial of personnel, legal representation is denied even though a severe punishment such as dismissal from the service could be awarded.’
He further stated that: “Despite the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution, compliance with the minimum human rights standard in the administration of military justice in Nigeria has remained a mirage. It is obvious that the reason for reversal of the majority of cases decided by courts-martial by the appellate courts is the breach of the fundamental rights of convicted soldiers to fair hearing”.
As we can see he noted that even legal representation is denied at summary trials, but none of the 38 officers were afforded an opportunity of summary trial or even a court martial. Many of them don’t even know what they are supposedly accused to have done. So what painstaking process and legal review is Mr Buratai talking about? That his legal people cannot determine that they have breached their own rules and regulations. Can Nigerians now see that Amnesty International (AI) and other reputable human rights groups have a case when they question and demean the Nigerian Army’s human rights records.
Professional Corruption?
Similarly, when queried about the retirements, the Minister of Defence, Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan-Alli said: “This is about Defence sector reforms and it has to start in earnest. What we did is to make sure that all those indicted in one way or the other, both for professional corruption and monetary corruption, were shown the way out”.
When asked if the officers were given fair hearing and terms and condition of service strictly observed, the minister said: “Of course, they were given fair hearing. They were called by a board and they went and testified”.
Regrettably this is not true and coming from a senior government official this is all the evidence required to reveal the shoddiness of the retirement process. How is it that officers accused of “professional corruption” would not appear for investigation, be charged or tried for their alleged offences? It is simply because the accusations are false. Even the judges whose homes were raided and accused of various acts of corruption have been reinstated for want of evidence and one of them, Justice Ademola was tried and acquitted.
Lack of Credibility
The clear breach of Section 36 of the Constitution and Section 122 of the AFA which accords the officers the presumption of innocence, reveals an abysmally low level of professionalism within the Buratai led army that we can no longer ascribe to them a presumption of credibility on this matter. Buratai said the officers appeared for various inquiries and thier cases subjected to a legal review, how come the retired officers are not aware of this? Can he provide the dates and times or substantiate with any evidence? Could he be deliberately misinforming the nation?
As at today, one year later, only one of the retired officers (Maj. Gen. Atewe) has been charged to court by the EFCC in connection with fraud allegedly perpertuated in conjunction with NIMASA. Similarly, the EFCC is currently prosecuting other cases involving serving army officers. Can we see the obvious double speak and hypocrisy??? If these officers truly committed the crimes why are they not tried in line with the existing military laws? At least, to serve as a deterrant to others!!!
Delayed appeals process
In a letter dated July 5, 2016, Gen Olonisakin officially intimated Mr. President that, some of the retired officers, have petitioned His Excellency, for the review of their various cases. This is as provided by paragraph 09.02 (e) of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officers, 2012 (revised). Which provides that, ‘an officer called upon to retire, resign or to relinquish his commission shall, if desires, appeal to Mr. President, and Commander-in-Chief, through the office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) within 30 days to have his case reconsidered.
In their appeals, one of the officers requested for conversion from compulsory to voluntary retirement, while 21 officers demanded for outright reinstatement to the Nigerian Army. Till date, nothing has been heard about the appeals and there has not been any official communication from Mr. President on the matter, even as the officers are left in the dark with families to cater for. This is quite sad for several reasons. The large number of appeals confirms that the officers were retired without trials. Had they been afforded trials the verdict of the trial judge would have been pronounced and thereafter the officers would have awaited confirmation by the Army Council. This was however not done as such the officers had to appeal to Mr President.
Sadly, this appeals process has gone on for one year with no response from the President or presidency. This is in stark contrast with the prompt attention given by the President to an earlier appeal by Maj. Gen. A Mohammed against his wrongful retirement. Mr Mohammed, who is from Katsina, was retired in January 2015, for undeployability. He did not appeal his retirement within the mandatory 30 days as prescribed by military law but until a whole 9 months later and by January 2016, he was reinstated to military service.
Not found guilty of any offence
At the time the defence spokesman noted that Mr Mohammed, who was indicted by AI for the alleged killing of 642 people in Maiduguri, was not found guilty of committing any offence. Hear him, “The compulsory and premature retirement of Major General Mohammed did not follow due process and was rather arbitrary. The senior officer was never charged, tried, let alone found guilty of any offence that justified his premature retirement”.
This is mind boggling because not a single one of the 38 officers was even instructed to appear for a court martial, let alone found guilty of any offence. If the army adhered to its extant rules and procedures, can Buratai state when and where the court martials sat and convicted the officers? Or was it done in their absence? Is it not evident that the retirements were arbitrary??
Sad loss
Whenever justice comes to these officers, it would already be too late for some. Unfortunately, Lt. Col. Ojebo Baba-Ochankpa, one of the officers, who were controversially dismissed by the Nigerian Army, passed on recently in January, while waiting for justice. He went to bed hale but died before dawn on the following day, according to his brother Paul Ochankpa. Late Ochankpa, former commanding officer, 343 Air Defence Artillery Regiment, Elele, Rivers State, was dismissed without being queried, charged or tried and the President from whom he sought redress in accordance with the law, did not act on his petition till he passed on.
Seeking for Justice
The unnecessary delay in responding to the appeals may have informed the officers to resort to the courts to seek for justice. A source confirmed that several of the officers have gone to court to clear their names, in the interest of justice as well as for posterity and to retain their honour. Can a man live without honour? No, he can not.
It is good to see that the values of courage and valour are not lost on our young military men whose names and reputations have been tarnished by false accusations and are willing to set the records straight despite obvious resistance from the military high command. But what is equally sad is that the Senate and the House committees on Defence and Army as well as human rights groups have not found it important to wade into the matter and investigate the retirements in the interest of justice.
An army that violates its own rules
A recent editorial in THISDAY Newspapers is quoted as saying; “Unfortunately, while the army is quick to attack AI, evidence within depicted a gross disrespect for the rights of its own officers some of whom were retired last year without due process. The question then is: How do you expect an institution that violates its own rules to respect the rights of ordinary Nigerians? The Nigerian Army would have to do more if it wants to regain the confidence of Nigerians and the international community in the area of human rights”.
Similarly, another editorial by The Daily Trust Newspapers stated; “However, the constitutional provision for fair hearing is absolute. No matter the gravity of the offence one is suspected to have committed, he or she must be given the opportunity to defend himself or herself. Even though both Army Chief Lt General Tukur Buratai and Defence Minister Brig-Gen Mansur Dan-Ali said at different fora that the retired officers had the opportunity to defend themselves, many of them deny this”.
Should we wait for the judiciary to intervene and confirm what we already know that the retirement process was a sham. The total disregard for fair hearing and existing military laws and our constitution has put an indelible stain on the tenure of Mr Buratai as army chief and the Nigerian Army’s human rights record.
A case of 2 goods
In my opinion we have a classic tale of 2 goods. On the one hand there is the good intent of ridding the Nigerian Army of allegedly corrupt officers with stupendous wealth and choice homes abroad (Buratai???), who have been tainted by various allegations and accusations of malfeasance and corruption. But alas, Buratai has totally messed up this effort with a pathetic display of unprofessionalism and marred the whole process by an abuse of military procedures and total disregard for the constitution as well as the laws of Nigeria by failing to grant fair hearing and afford the officers an opportunity to defend themselves. This is very disappointing!!!
On the other hand, we have the good case of restoring the commision of the officers who were falsely accused and not granted fair hearing by attending to their appeals or by providing a wholistic review of the entire retirement process. So why is this not being done? Why have our military laws and constitution been trampled upon and the government remains silent?
Compassionate and honest government
President Muhammadu Buhari promised to run a compassionate and honest government. He said “…for out of compassion rises the truest form of wealth and progress a society can attain…” Mr President also promised to govern Nigeria in accordance with the constitution, so why is there so much delay in attending to these appeals? Is it because the officers are innocent and the military high command has goofed? The conspiracy of silence by government is more befuddling when we compare with its actions in reviewing/cancelling former court martials as well as reinstating Mr Mohammed back to service.
Mr President is a devout muslim and largely viewed as an honest man. His deputy and now acting President, Prof Osinbajo is a pastor and professor of law. They know the significance of fair hearing and justice in both our religious books, so why wont they give our officers the respite and justice our laws and constitution provide. It is worthy to note that justice demands condemnation of the wicked and guilty, while by respecting our laws we preserve our common good and the sacrifices of the innocent.
Mr President sir, the officers and their families cry out for justice, the soul of late Baba-Ochankpa and his family cry out for justice. Why don’t we use our military laws and constitution more as a shield for the innocent rather than a sword of impunity?
I believe that Mr President and the acting President both possess the courage to be just and the vision to be merciful. The continued delay in resolving the appeals erodes confidence in the military justice system as well as in this government’s resolve to provide justice to all Nigerians.
Ishaq Yusuf, a social affairs commentator writes from Sokoto
Why don’t we use our military laws and constitution more as a shield for the innocent rather than a sword of impunity?
It is worthy to note that justice demands condemnation of the wicked and guilty, while by respecting our laws we preserve our common good and the sacrifices of the innocent.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and not of Aledeh.
