by Kolapo Olapoju

Authorities of the Nigerian Army are reportedly planning to arraign 13 soldiers for cowardice and (insubordination) failure to obey orders from their superiors to advance at the war-front.

Reports have it that the soldiers failed to comply with the directive to join their counterparts at the 7 Division, on the counter-terrorism operation in the North-East early in the year.

Their offences include, negligence of duty, cowardice, failure to perform military duty, failure to advance with orders, leakage of information to the enemy and several others.

A General Court Martial set up to handle the cases emanating from the on-going operation led by Brig. Gen. CC Okonkwo is expected to hear the cases against the soldiers.

A military source revealed that the soldiers failed to advance when an order was given to them to do so, an action which is contrary to the laws of the military. Meanwhile, the affected soldiers are believed to have been moved to the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja, which is the venue of the GCM.

However, the spokesperson of the Defence Headquarters, Garrison, Mogadishu Cantonment, Colonel Aliyu Yusuf, says he was not aware of any case being treated by the GCM. He said, “For now, there is no court martial inaugurated. When the court martial is inaugurated, I will brief you appropriately on the issues before it.”

Of late, the Nigerian Army has been stringent with soldiers who have been discovered to have flouted military laws. On 16 September, twelve soldiers were sentenced to death by firing squad, after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and mutiny.

Kolapo Olapoju