ASHENEWS reports that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Taoreed Lagbaja, has ordered investigations into allegations of overcrowded cells in the Nigerian Army barracks and poor feeding of detained personnel across the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu.
The statement was in reaction to the viral reports on social media of some soldiers who were being held in custody at the 8 Division Garrison detention facility in Sokoto state protesting over poor living conditions and feeding.
The statement which acknowledged the poor state of detention facilities across the state described the Sokoto barracks detention facility incident as “quite unfortunate and an embarrassment to the sound administration efforts of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).”
The statement said that the incident had prompted the COAS to institute an appropriate investigation into the incident to determine whether it was an isolated or widespread situation in similar detention facilities.
“While the service regrets and has gleaned some lessons from the incident, it will however not condone the manner the inmates expressed their purported grievance.
“Mutiny and conduct prejudicial to service order are grievous misconducts, and this very incident epitomises such.
“As such, as Army, on the one side, goes ahead to implement the COAS directive to look into the state of all NA detention facilities, as detainees’ lives also matter, the Service shall not shy away from appropriately sanctioning the soldiers involved in the unruly behaviour in its Sokoto detention facility for failing to exhaust all available options to channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities and if it was discovered they did and nothing was done, necessary administrative actions will be taken against anyone found to have failed to discharge his/her duties effectively.”
The statement stressed that the Nigerian Army remains primarily a responsible, self-regulating professional body.
“As such, the Service remains committed to ensuring that everyone, even those found guilty of aiding terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits, and are awaiting confirmation of their sentencing, as it has been discovered in the Sokoto case is accorded a relatively decent life until their judgment is confirmed and executed.
“This commitment underscores the NA’s dedication to upholding professional standards and maintaining a just and fair system,” the Nigerian Army said.
The army further lauded Nigerians for their concern and support, pledging to remain focused on its drive to defeat security challenges facing the nation in conjunction with sister services and other security agencies.
