The Nigerian Army has refuted a claim that Lance Cpl. Musa Adamu, a soldier, was being held for spreading the gospel and converting from Islam to Christianity.
This was said in a statement released on Tuesday in Abuja by Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, director of Army Public Relations.
The story attributed to an internet medium, according to Nwachukwu, was not just inaccurate; the soldier was in detention for breaking some rules of the Armed Forces Act.
He called the allegation “an outrageous falsehood tainted with religious bigotry, being peddled against the Nigerian army, a professional institution guided by well-established ethics and tradition in all its activities and administration of personnel”
He claims that this is apart from the impartial preference of place given to employees’ spiritual growth and concern, as well as the importance it places on employees’ participation in religious traditions.
“To set the records straight, Lance Cpl. Musa Adamu, a personnel of the Amphibious Training School was attached to 63 Brigade to participate in an ongoing operation.
“During the operation, he was found preaching in uniform on a social media platform in violation of extant Social Media policy for the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“This prompted his invitation for interrogation by relevant authorities.
“Rather than present himself for the investigation, he absconded for about six and a half months, resulting in the declaration of the soldier on Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL).
“The action of the personnel violates Section 58 (a) (b) Obstruction of Provost Officers and Section 59 (a) (b) Absence Without Leave.
“It must be clarified, that once a personnel is absent from his unit for seven days without any justification, he will be declared on AWOL.
“This automatically triggers the freezing of his salary account, until the personnel returns to unit and is arraigned and sanctioned,” he said.
Nwachukwu further clarified that contrary to the ‘erroneous impression’ that the soldier was being victimized for converting from Islam to Christianity and for preaching the gospel, he was rather taken into custody for investigation.
He said the disciplinary action was in pursuant of statutory provisions enshrined in the Armed Forces Act CAP 20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which the soldier contravened.
According to him, his detention is therefore not unlawful.
“It is expedient to point out that each and every personnel of the Nigerian army functions under a Corps or Department with stipulated statutory responsibilities manned by qualified personnel trained to effectively execute those duties.
“Hence, religious affairs of the Nigerian army are handled by designated clergy in the Directorates of Chaplain Services (Protestant), (Roman Catholic) and Islamic Affair
“Personnel of these directorates are the ones mandated to conduct all religious activities to cater for the spiritual needs of all personnel of the Nigerian army, both in the theatres of operations and within the barracks.
“The question begging for answer is, if the Nigerian army allowed the soldier to change his religion, why then will it victimize him?
“It is ironical therefore, that an institution that promotes the spiritual wellbeing of its personnel is alleged to have detained the soldier for the expression of his faith, even when it is abundantly clear that he has the opportunity to also change his Corps to any of the Army’s Chaplaincy,” Nwachukwu added.
The army spokesman further said that the Nigerian army was guided by ethics, traditions and military laws, which direct personnel on their conducts.
He said that violation of those ideals and statutory stipulations evoke sanctions, irrespective of the faith of the offender.
“Consequently, the Nigerian army denounces the libelous publication capable of causing disaffection amongst personnel as well as bringing disrepute and distractions to it.
“The general public are therefore, enjoined to ignore the baseless report aimed at scoring cheap goal by denigrating an institution totally committed to the restoration of peace and stability in Nigeria.
“The support of the good citizens of this country is paramount to the success of the Nigerian army at this crucial time and not unfounded and unconstructive narrations,” he added.