Tag Archives: Reinstatement

Amnesty International Condemns The Reinstatement Of Nigerian General Accused Of Possible War Crimes

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Human Rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has condemned the reinstatement of a former commander of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ahmadu Mohammed, who the organization accused of possible war crimes following the alleged execution of suspected Boko Haram detainees in Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Amnesty implicated Mr. Mohammed, a Major General, alongside other serving and retired military chiefs for possible war crimes following the alleged torture and extra-judicial killings of more than 8,000 suspected Boko Haram detainees.

Mr. Mohammed was specifically accused of overseeing the killing of 640 detainees at Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State on March 14, 2014 after the Barracks’s detention centre was attacked by Boko Haram.

Mr Mohammed was retired in 2014 after a mutiny by soldiers who accused him of knowingly leading them into a Boko Haram ambush around Chibok on May 12, 2014.

More than 70 soldiers were killed in the ambush. Mr Mohammed, whose vehicle was shot at by the angry soldiers during the mutiny, has been quietly reinstated after he allegedly wrote several letters to the army authorities asking to be recalled.

In a statement Monday, Amnesty International described the reinstatement of Mr Mohammed as a “monumental failure of the government to stamp out impunity for wars crimes at the highest level.”

“Major General Mohammed must be investigated for participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

 “Young men and boys, rounded up by the military, were either shot, starved, suffocated or tortured to death and no one has yet been held to account. It is unthinkable that Major General Muhammed could resume command of troops before an investigation has even begun,” Mr. Shetty added.

Credit: PremiumTimes

More Dismissed Soldiers Beg Buhari For Reinstatement

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Following the decision of Federal Government to reinstate 3,032 officers and soldiers, who were dismissed from the Nigerian Army last year by the General Court-Martial set up by military authorities, three groups of officers and soldiers, yesterday, appealed to President Buhari to extend the gesture to them.

The groups, according to their counsel, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), in a petition addressed to the Chief of Army Staff, are the 70 soldiers convicted and sentenced to death in September and December 2014 by two General Courts-Martial, whose findings have not been confirmed; scores of officers and soldiers convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment by General Courts-Martial, and senior officers and soldiers currently being prosecuted in Special and General Courts-Martial in Lagos and Abuja.

The petition said: “The convicts and suspects under-going trial are alleged to have committed mutiny, cowardly behaviour, loss of equipment, failure to perform military duties and sundry offences…”

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Dismissed Ex-UN Peacekeepers Beg Buhari For Reinstatement

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Some ex-Nigerian soldiers, who served in the United Nations Mission in Liberia, have called on the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to review their compulsory retirement and reinstate them.

Some of the ex-soldiers were those retired for allegedly participating in mutiny after staging a protest in Akure over non-payment of their entitlements by the authorities of the Nigerian Army, spoke to our correspondent in Osogbo on the telephone on Sunday.

The former UN peacekeepers staged a protest in Akure in 2008 when their entitlements including their savings were not paid on their return from the peacekeeping operation in Liberia.

One of the soldiers, Yomi Ibukun, who was a lance corporal before they were sacked, said that it was not appropriate to render young male and female soldiers, who had been trained to handle guns, jobless.

Ibukun said three of the ex-UN soldiers given compulsory retirement; Paul Maikudi (corporal); Pascal Stephen (lance corporal) and Kabiru Mohammed (private) had died.

Another ex-soldier, Abass Salisu, who was a corporal, said that all of them were young and their skills were still needed by the military.

He lamented the alleged injustice done to them, saying the victims of the injustice would be grateful if they could be reinstated.

Ibukun said, “We thank God that Gen. Buhari eventually won the presidential election. The President-elect is a former military officer and he would appreciate our case if it is brought before him.

“We are appealing to him to correct the injustice done to 27 of us. Some senior officers refused to pay us our entitlements during our operations in Liberia and they sentenced us to life imprisonment after the protest.

“The sentence was commuted to seven years imprisonment before we were freed but later compulsorily retired.

“It is sad because while those of us whose entitlements were stolen were punished and retired, the officers who stole our money suffered loss of ranks temporarily but they had since been restored to their old ranks.”

Musa Salisu, who was a corporal before he was compulsory retired, said the authorities paid part of the entitlements which led to the protest and had refused to pay the balance despite the punishment meted out to them.

Read More: newmail