579 soldiers facing court martial –Army

The authorities of the Nigerian Army are prosecuting a total of 579 officers and soldiers for offences
bordering on professional misconduct and indiscipline in the Armed Forces.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, who stated this during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, did not disclose how many of the Army personnel are within the officers’ cadre and those belonging to the rank and file.
Usman said that the Army personnel were being tried in two existing courts martial of the Nigerian Army-the Army Headquarters Garrison, the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja, and the headquarters of the 81 Division in Lagos.
Usman said, “There are currently two separate ongoing Courts Martial going on in the Army Headquarters Garrison, and 81 Division, Nigerian Army, with a view to ensuring quick dispensation of justice, discipline and professionalism.
“In all, 473 suspects are to be tried here at the Army Headquarters Garrison and 106 at the 81 Division.
“The trials have to do with the emphasis on discipline and professionalism in the Army…”
Usman stated also that the authorities of the Nigerian Army were taking very seriously the suggestion by the Borno State Governor, Kassim Shettima, that the Chibok girls might be in bunkers in the Sambisa Forest.
He said that that the suggestion of the governor was in line with the call of the security agencies for relevant information and support from members of the pubic, not just on the Chibok girls but also on the ongoing campaign against the insurgency in the North-East.
Shettima had suggested that the over 200 girls who were abducted by the Boko Haram from Government Secondary School, Chibok, on April 14, 2014, might be held in underground cells by their captors. Shettima urged the military to go after the insurgents during a paper presentation on his behalf by the Chairman of the Borno Elders’ Forum, Bulama Gubio, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Army spokesman also called on Nigerians to be security-conscious as the Boko Haram had deployed the strategy to use under-aged ladies to carry out suicide attacks on their targets.
He stated that the insurgents, who had been routed out of their enclaves, would not give up easily but would be desperate to use all available means to carry out their destructive activities.
Usman stated that as part of the efforts to intensify the campaign against the insurgency in the North-East, a total of 481 personnel of the Armed Forces and the Police, whose training exercise were completed in April, were deployed to the operational area under the Division 7 of the Nigeria Army.
He said that the elite force played a crucial role in some of the recent successes recorded against the Boko Haram in the North-East.
He stated further that while a battalion had completed training and had been deployed to the mission area, some other battalions were undergoing training and would be deployed on completion of their training programmes.