Army dismisses 300 soldiers for desertion, BVN inconsistency

The Nigerian Army has dismissed over 300 soldiers from service for deserting the

Operation Lafiya Dole counter - insurgency campaign in the North- East and going away without leave , among other allegations .

Findings by our correspondent revealed that the men were disengaged by their unit commanders between 2015 and 2016 .

Investigations showed that some of the soldiers were also discharged for certificate forgery , age fraud, inconsistent Bank Verification Number and other conduct deemed inappropriate by the various unit commanders .

Records obtained by The PUNCH on Thursday show that 24 soldiers of the 118 Task Force Battalion , Kaura Cross, Baga , were dismissed from the military on December 13 , 2015 , for refusing to board an articulated truck from Maimalari cantonment to Baga .

The men had complained about the mode of transportation and proceeded to trek for five days to the battlefront at Baga to retake the location from Boko Haram.

On arrival , their Commanding Officer, Col . S . Omolori , charged them with desertion and dismissed the first batch of 24 soldiers.

Three weeks later on January 4 , 2016 , Omolori discharged the second set of 30 soldiers and another 24 men also for desertion .

Further investigations revealed that 45 soldiers of 157 Battalion were equally expelled on January 16 , 2016 , for going AWOL .

Also , on February 28 , 2016 , 24 soldiers were demobilised for going AWOL just as 36 privates who graduated from the Army depot were sent packing by the authorities for certificate forgery , inconsistent BVN , age fraud , among other issues .

Checks, however , revealed that some of the affected soldiers had challenged their dismissal by their unit commanders , whom they accused of high - handedness and tyranny.