The
Nigerian Army Council has retired two senior officers, Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh,
who was indicted in the conduct of the 2015 elections in Ekiti State; the
former spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Olajide Laleye, and other
officers.
It
was learnt on Sunday that the retirement of the senior officers was in
connection with the recommendations of the panel set up by the Army authorities
to look into allegations of professional misconduct against military personnel
in the conduct of the June 14, 2014 governorship poll in Ekiti State and the
2015 general elections.
The
panel was also directed to investigate the roles played by the military
officers who participated in the August, 2014 governorship election in Osun
State.
After
the results of the Ekiti governorship election was released, where the
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, was declared the
winner, there were allegations that the Army personnel deployed in the state,
led by Momoh, played active roles in an alleged rigging of the poll.
An
officer of the Nigerian Army, Capt. Sagir Koli, who participated in the
supervision of the poll, had leaked an audio recording of a meeting, featuring
Fayose, Momoh, former Minister of State for Defence, Musliu Obanikoro; former
Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan; and the PDP governorship
candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, among others, where the
alleged rigging was hatched.
The
individuals had stridently denied the rigging allegations.
The
former Director, Army Public Relations, Laleye, who later became the Commander,
4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, addressed the press on the controversy over
the secondary school certificate of the then presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
He
had said the Army could not find the results of the West African School
Certificate Examination of Buhari, who was Nigeria’s military Head of State
between January 1, 1984 and August, 1985.
Buhari,
who was contesting the presidential election as the candidate of the APC, had
claimed, while submitting his nomination forms to the Independent National
Electoral Commission in 2014, that his WASCE result was in the custody of the
Army.
The
Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, confirmed that “Gen.
Momoh and others have been retired from the Army”.
The
Army spokesman did not give further details of the retirement.
Investigation,
however, revealed that the Army council met in February to consider the
recommendations of the panel, set up by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur
Buratai, to investigate allegations of professional misconduct against its
personnel in the last elections.
The
Board of Inquiry, led by the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division of the
Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, indicted some officers and
recommended various degrees of sanctions for them in a report submitted to the
Army chief on January 11, 2016.
The
Oyebade-led panel recommended the compulsory retirement of two officers from
the Army, three others for loss of command and one for prosecution for
receiving financial gratification.
The
panel recommended 15 officers to be put on the watch list and nine officers for
investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Also,
the panel said ‘‘six officers should face an audit panel and 62 officers
(mostly of the rank of Major and below) should be given Letters of Displeasure
and to appear before their respective GOCs for counselling.’’
Oyebade
had said 23 officers, over 100 soldiers and 62 civilians appeared before the
panel which was constituted on October 20, 2015 “to investigate the alleged
unprofessional and unethical conduct of some Nigerian Army personnel in Ekiti
and Osun states’ governorship election in 2014 as well as in any other state in
Nigeria, where other allegations of misconduct were made during the 2015
general elections”.
Part
of the committee’s terms of reference include “to review the involvement of the
Nigerian Army formations/units and its personnel in elections and other duties
in aid of civil authority”.
The
Army authorities had said the investigation was designed “to prevent future
unprofessional conduct by officers and men in the performance of their
constitutional roles while strengthening Nigerian Army’s support to democratic
values and structures”.
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