The Army and ECOMOG 22

Looking back, Nigerians must be thanking God for the break from one of the signature malaises of the immediate past government, which is the disobedience of court orders. The impunity with which court orders were treated was not the exclusive vice of former President Olusegun Obasanjo alone. Even the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen Victor Malu was also a culprit.
It is such scant regard for the rule of law that caused him to ignore the court order, which ruled that some 22 ECOMOG soldiers he dismissed from service, be re-instated into the service.
The soldiers, eight years ago, while serving in the ECOMOG troupe, had sustained severe injuries leading to the amputation of their limbs, and so had to be flown back to Nigeria. The government had then ordered that the soldiers be flown to Egypt for proper medical treatment. But the army authorities under Gen Malu ignored the directive and “camped” the injured soldiers at the military hospital in Yaba, Lagos. Faced with worsening health situation, the injured soldiers protested what they described as “unjust treatment” by the army authorities. But the army will not brook any such protest. Pronto, the deformed soldiers were ordered arrested, court martialed and finally sacked from the army service.
Convinced that they were unfairly treated, the soldiers went to court and secured an order for re-instatement. But the army authorities under Malu would not budge, and insisted that the dismissed soldiers remained dismissed, court order or no court order. And for eight years, the fate and career fortune of the affected soldiers were stymied and hung in the balance.
But the present Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Luka Yusuf, in an apparent review of the past misdeeds, had ordered the recall of the 22 soldiers into the army, just as he ordered that all their past entitlements—salaries, allowances and privileges, be paid in full to them.
This is not only commendable, it is the humanization of military service.
No doubt, the action of Lt. Gen. Yusuf will encourage soldiers to put in their best in the service of their nation. That the army authorities could treat so shabbily the soldiers who gave themselves to the service of their fatherland is a shame. How could the military authorities literally beat a child and forbid it from crying. Were it not so, why should the protest of the soldiers be visited with arrest, court martial and eventual dismissal, as if demand for better healthcare was tantamount to mutiny.
Still, the blunt refusal of the Malu tenure to even respect court order not only presents the army as being ruled by men with heart of stone, it also portrayed it more like an irresponsible institution which operates above the law.
We indeed believe that the National Assembly should consider making laws that should punish persons in authority who flagrantly abuse and disobey court orders. Such a law should bring offenders to judgement even after they have left office.
It is against that backdrop that we commend the new Chief of Army Staff for correcting the whimsical actions of the past by restoring the hope and career of the 22 ECOMOG soldiers. By this gesture, Gen Luka has restored the image of the Nigerian Army as an institution governed by the rule of law.
Having been re-instated with their full benefits, the affected soldiers should rededicate themselves to the service of the nation in the army.