The Nigerian Army has finally responded to Lance Corporal Musa Adamu’s arrest.
According to reports, the soldier was jailed after switching from Islam to Christianity and beginning to preach the gospel.
The Army refuted the report, claiming he was detained for breaking specified articles of the Armed Forces Act.
Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the director of Army Public Relations, confirmed this.
Nwachukwu made this known in a statement titled, ‘Nigerian Army Soldier Not Detained For Religious Affiliation’.
Part of the statement read: “Contrary to reports being circulated in the social media that a personnel of the Nigerian Army (NA), Lance Corporal Musa Adamu, is in detention for converting from Islam to Christianity and preaching the gospel, the reality is that the soldier is in custody for violation of some provisions of the Armed Forces Act.
“The awful report is not only a misrepresentation of the true situation but an outrageous falsehood tainted with religious bigotry, being peddled against the Nigerian Army; a professional institution guided by well-established ethics and tradition in all its activities and administration of personnel.
“This is aside the unbiased premium of place accorded the spiritual concern and growth of personnel as well as the sensitivity it attaches to religious practices amongst personnel.
“To set the records straight, Lance Corporal Musa Adamu, a personnel 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 extant Social Media policy for the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“This prompted his invitation for interrogation by relevant authorities.
The Army said that Adamu refused to present himself for investigation.
“Rather than present himself for the investigation, he absconded for about six and a half months, resulting in the declaration of the soldier on Absence 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. It must be clarified, that once a personnel is absent from his unit for seven days without any justification, he will be declared on AWOL.
“This automatically triggers the freezing of his salary account until the personnel returns to the unit and is arraigned and sanctioned.
“It is equally important to state that contrary to the erroneous impression that the soldier is being victimized for converting from Islam to Christianity and for preaching the gospel, the soldier was rather taken into custody for investigation and in pursuant 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,” the Army declared.
