Ihejirika, on Wednesday said some soldiers
and officers of the Nigerian Army had been
arrested for conspiring with insurgents in
the ongoing face-off between the military
and militants.
The COAS however did not give the
number of soldiers that were arrested.
Ihejirika said that the affected troops were caught
while posting comments he described as "negative"
and conversing with terror suspects on the Internet.
He stated, "There are some soldiers that have been
found to be posting negative comments on the
Internet and some conversing with insurgents.
"I want to state that any officer or soldier caught
linked one way or the other will be disciplined
severely, there are no two ways about it.
"So the Directorate of Military Intelligence is
encouraged to continue to monitor the activities
along with military police and other commanders in
the field because military service is service of
patriotism as I said earlier."
Nigerian troops are currently confronting militants
in the three northern states of Yobe, Borno and
Adamawa, where President Goodluck Jonathan last
week declared a state of emergency in the efforts to
rout members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko
Haram.
The Army chief spoke at the opening ceremony of
the Nigerian Army transformation and Innovation
Centre on Personnel Management and
Development at the Command Officers Mess,
Asokoro, Abuja.
The seminar was held under the leadership of the
Chief of Army Transformation and Innovation,
Maj. Gen Ibrahim Sani, with the title, "Building
Capacity of the Nigerian Army to meet
Contemporary Challenges."
He warned that any officers found to be involved in
such unacceptable conduct would be made to face
the law.
Ihejirika urged the DMI, the investigative arm of
the Armed Forces, and the Military Police to put
commanders and soldiers in the field of operations
under watch.
The Army chief explained that a soldier who gave
out information on troops' movement to the
insurgents that attacked Mali -bound soldiers at
Okene, Kogi State, had been arrested and would be
made to face military court-martial.
Two soldiers, a warrant Officer and Corporal were
killed in the Okene attack claimed by an Islamic
sect.
He said, "Again let me warn; let me also use this
opportunity to warn officers and soldiers who
indulge in giving out information both from the
Army headquarters and other formations; certain
vital information that has in one way or the other
worked negatively in our operations.
"As you are aware, a soldier gave out information
on the movement of our troops to Mali, movement
of troops bound for Mali.
"The troops were attacked at somewhere close to
Okene; the guy has been apprehended and is going
to be court-martialled."
Ihejirika also advised commanders of the various
Army formations in the country to exercise caution
in dismissing soldiers who had been trained in
handling arms.
He said that if offences committed by the affected
soldiers were so grave as to prevent the soldiers
from being in the unit, a bold step should be taken
to jail and to keep away the offender as a result of
the security situation.
He said that the Army would not jump into
dismissing people as was the case in the past
because of the prevailing security situation in the
country.
"The situation we are facing today is such that you
cannot afford to discard any of them as was the case
many years back when we had the luxury to do that.
"It is also for the reason that I have advised
commanders to mellow down in dismissing soldiers
who are already trained and have acquired enough
knowledge of use of arms."
The Army chief, who said that the Nigerian Army
had progressed beyond the era of the nation's
intervention in the crises in Liberia and Sierra
Leone, announced the establishment of a special
unit whose focus is to monitor the activities of
troops during operations.
He said that the Army was collaborating with the
United States AFRICOM, in the quest to have a
standing special operations unit which could be
transformed into a special brigade.
He also said that the Army had established a
standing full-fledged Army Headquarters Reserve
Battalion known as 101 battalion and the new
battalion would be inaugurated soon.
Ihejirika, who put the strength of the Battalion
being led by a Colonel at 100, said that soldiers of
the new battalion had been equipped up to 50 per
cent of the basic requirement.
He explained that even though the Army might
appear to be overstretched, the existence of the new
reserve battalion clearly indicated the readiness and
preparedness of the Army to take on more
challenges.
Ihejirika emphasised the place of capacity building
as a vital tool of transformation in the Army.
He said, "This question is about capacity building
and it will interest you to know that since the
beginning of last year, we embarked on a
programme of retraining young officers starting
with those who had just passed out of the Defence
Academy.
"They go to our counter-terrorist school and do the
whole basic counter-terrorism course and acquire
the confidence required to undertake counter
insurgency operation. We have all the lieutenants
now; this time around we will commence with the
captains."
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