Military Cover-Up: Soldier Detained 9 Months
A military personnel has been imprisoned for revealing his colleagues’ collaboration with a Boko Haram suspect.
The military personnel Idris, with military number 19NA/78/3048, was the medical personnel charged with overseeing the 7 Division military hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state.
He was put in prison for revealing his colleague Agbo’s dirty work.
Agbo was put in charge of looking over the suspected Boko Haram member, but he went ahead to give a hand device owned by Idris to the suspect to speak with his family and other suspected members. Since then Idris has been imprisoned for nine months without cause.
Many unrevealed identities voiced their opinions about the unjust treatment that Idris was receiving just because he chose to unveil the truth, and even when Agbo later admitted to doing illegal business with the suspects and collecting money, followed with lots of evidence, Idris was still not released from detention, but Agbo was rather set free.
One narrated, “The detained soldier was the medical personnel member on duty on that very day, so the corporal, a military police personnel member, was attached to a Boko Haram member in the hospital. He was to be by his side on his hospital bed. Both Idris and Agbo are regulars of the same intake, so they were known to each other.
He also added,On that fateful day, Agbo, the MP, went to meet Idris and asked for his phone, saying that he had an emergency call to make. That one didn’t hesitate to give him his handset, not knowing Agbo had another plan. He gave the phone to the Boko Haram terrorist he was assigned to be with at the hospital to call other (Boko Haram) members and family.”
Another anonymous source also explained, “During the investigation, it was revealed that the military police personnel collaborated with the terrorists to communicate with his brother to send some amount of money to him. He also communicated with his other Boko Haram members.
“However, this detained medical personnel member wasn’t aware his colleague has any link with Boko Haram.”
“Sadly, the military police personnel who allowed the terrorist to make phone calls have been released. He was detained for three months while the other soldier who raised an alarm is still in detention. He was arrested a few days before 2024 Ramadan and has been in detention since then.
“Those in charge have refused to give him a fair hearing and prevented him from seeing his family since.”
One other unrevealed identity narrated deep into the case: “The innocent soldier with number 19NA/78/3048 is serving in 7 Division Medical Centre, Maiduguri, Borno State. He has been in detention for nine months without trial or charges for disciplinary action because the innocent soldier refused to change his statement for an offence he did not commit.
“The MP Commander 7 Division and one military police sergeant wanted to force the innocent soldier to change the initial statement he wrote by himself; however, he refused. This prompted a senior officer to transfer the innocent soldier to another detention facility called Annex along Pompomari in Maiduguri, Borno State.
“The Chief of Defence Staff, General SG Musa, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. O. O. Oluyede, are requested to investigate the case to prevent what happened to that female soldier, Pte Ruth Ogunleye, and Seaman Abbas.
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“This soldier was detained for exposing a military police personnel member; however, the MP commander changed the case and accused him of what he knew nothing of. The prime suspect, who collected his phone and gave it to the Boko Haram member while on a hospital bed in the 7 Division medical centre, was released and is now back on duty. But this innocent soldier remains in detention since.”
Injustice and unlawful detention are becoming more rampant in the military zone. There are numerous reports of military personnel who were maltreated and unlawfully imprisoned without due cause.
According to SaharaReporters reports on 20 June 2024, an ex-military personnel, Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini, in a petition, accused the military of acting illegally by detaining soldiers for up to five years or more without being court-martialed.
The newspaper also reported how Sergeant Zachariah Ismaila, with military number 04NA/55/1882, serving under Lieutenant Colonel I.A. Manga in the 29th battalion, Port Harcourt, was arrested on January 8, 2024, booked, and put in a dungeon without being immediately informed of his alleged offense(s).
Also, all efforts of SaharaReporters to contact the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 7 Division, Brigadier General AGL Haruna, on his mobile line were futile.
Content Credit| Igbakuma Rita Doom
Picture Credit | https://www.thecable.ng/nigerian-army-melting-point-of-patriotism-and-professionalism/
