Nigeria on Thursday pardoned more than 3,000 sacked soldiers and reinstated them into the Army. The Nigerian Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said Thursday that the 3,032 soldiers, convicted by military courts for indiscipline and other offences, were reinstated into the Army.
"The reinstated soldiers have shown their total readiness to be re-launched into theatre to combat insurgency and have now commenced a re-training exercise at the Nigerian Army Training Centre, Kontagora, Niger State," the spokesperson said, according to This Day Live.
"This training is to re-orient the affected soldiers and prepare them for this closing stage of the operational aspect of the counter insurgency operations with more weapons and new leadership," he added.
The reinstalment of Nigerian soldiers followed a recommendation by a military panel set up to look into alleged offences committed by 5,000 soldiers, reported The Nation Online. The panel recommended reinstatement of 3,032 soldiers out of the 5,000 last week.
"You may recall that the Nigerian Army, some time ago, instituted a committee to review the recent disciplinary cases in the service especially of those soldiers in the defunct Op Zaman Lafiya, the aim of which was to ensure discipline, regimentation and justice in the system," Col Usman said, according to Punch Nigeria.
The reinstated soldiers were dismissed from the army last year for their alleged indiscipline during the defunct Operation Zaman Lafiya against Boko Haram militants, reported Punch Nigeria.
Nigeria is struggling to tackle Boko Haram militancy in the country, particularly in volatile Borno state. President Muhammad Buhari, in mid-August, set a three month deadline for crushing the terror group.
"We would like to reassure the President and indeed the good people of our great nation that we would definitely meet up with the three-month deadline and do the nation proud," the Nigerian Army spokesman said, according to The Nation Nigeria.
