126 Dismissed Soldiers Sue Nigerian Army

The soldiers, in a suit No. NICN/ABJ/92/2015, through their lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, said the soldiers were denied “inviolable opportunity to be heard and make representation in defence and to state their respective cases.”

The soldiers were among the 255 soldiers sacked on January 13 and 14, 2015, by the Nigerian Army, over an alleged “disobedience to standing order and failure to perform military duties.”

They comprise of four warrant officers ( Akanny Welcome, Davou Nta, Ibrahim Usman and Adediran Ogunmuyiwa) and others in the ranks of sergeants, corporal, lance corporal, and private were part of the joint force, code-named “OP Zaman Lafia,” who were directed to combat the outlawed Boko Haram sect in the North-East region of Nigeria.

The army had claimed the plaintiffs refused to obey their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel A. A Egbejule, during a counter-attack by Boko Haram in Bazza.

It further said the act of the plaintiffs led to the recapture of the territory by the terrorists and subsequently were dismissed orally at their station by Lieutenant-Colonel M.J Gambo on January 13, 2015 and by the Garrison Commander, General B.O Akinroluoyo, the following day.

Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed new service chiefs after sacking the military service chiefs he inherited from the Goodluck Jonathan administration on Monday, July 13,