Soldier detained for AWOL, not because of religious affiliation

The Nigerian Army has clarified that Lance Corporal Musa Adamu was detained for violation of some provisions of the Armed Forces Act and not for converting from Islam to Christianity, as reported on social media.

Recalls that reports are being circulated on social media that one of the personnel of the Nigerian Army, Lance Corporal Musa Adamu, is in detention for converting from Islam to Christianity and preaching the gospel.

Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Public Relations, in a statement, described the report as false, a misrepresentation of the true situation, and an outrageous falsehood, tainted with religious bigotry, being peddled against the Nigerian Army.

According to the statement, Lance Corporal Musa Adamu of the Amphibious Training School was attached to 63 Brigade to participate in an ongoing operation, during which he was found preaching in uniform on a social media platform in violation of the extant social media policy of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

According to the statement: “This prompted his invitation for interrogation by relevant authorities. Rather than present himself for the investigation, he absconded for about six and a half months, resulting in the declaration of the soldier as Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).”

The action of the personnel violates Section 58 (a) (b) Obstruction of Provost Officers and Section 59 (a) (b) Absence Without Leave, Brig Gen Nwachukwu stated.

The statement further added: “It must be clarified that once personnel is absent from his unit for seven days without any justification, he will be declared AWOL.

“This automatically triggers the freezing of his salary account, until the personnel returns to his unit and is arraigned and sanctioned.

“It is equally important to state that contrary to the erroneous impression that the soldier is being victimised for converting from Islam to Christianity and for preaching the gospel, the soldier was rather taken into custody for investigation and in pursuance of statutory provisions enshrined in the Armed Forces Act CAP 20, the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which the soldier contravened. His detention is, therefore, not unlawful.”