Still on the Dismissed Army Officers
In June last year, 38 senior officers of the Nigerian Army were summarily retired under circumstances they still believe are draconian. Nine Major Generals, 10 Brigadier Generals, seven Colonels, 11 Lieutenant Colonels, and one Major were affected. They allege that they are not aware of any offences they had committed, as they were neither formally charged with any offences nor convicted by any competent court. Though, the army announced that the grounds for the compulsory retirements ranged from alleged professional misconduct during the 2015 general election to involvement in the $2.1 billion arms procurement scandal.
Clearly, what accounts for the divergence between the army authorities and the retired officers is the question of adherence to the Nigerian Army’s rules of disengagement. As a rule, an accused army officer is expected to be queried, indicted by a panel, and convicted by a court martial, if found guilty, before they are punished. It is the court martial that pronounces punishment. The panel is a fact finding body preparatory to a court martial, and it does not have conclusory powers to assign guilt under military law. The question is, were the retired officers queried, indicted, charged, and convicted by any court before they were disengaged? The Nigerian Army must address this question and take deliberate steps to redress any injustice in the process of the officers’ retirement.