Hundreds of soldiers involved in violent protests in Akure, Ondo State on Friday are on the verge of being penalised as the Nigerian Army said on Sunday that they would face a court martial.
Already, a board of inquiry has been put in place to identify and investigate the soldiers that participated in the action which the Army described as most �unprofessional conduct.�
The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig-Gen Emeka Onwuamaegbu, made this known to one of our correspondents during a telephone interview in Abuja Sunday.
The soldiers from 323 Artillery Regiment blocked roads in Akure and chanted war songs for allegedly being �short-changed in the payment of their full allowances� for participating in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
They claimed that their entitlements of $1,228 per month approved by the Federal Government was unjustifiably reduced.
Instead of paying each soldier $7,368 for the six months they participated in the peacekeeping operation, each of them was paid $3,000.
Onwuamaegbu, who explained that there was a mix-up in the payment from the Finance Department of the Army headquarters, said that the board would also find out why such a lapse happened.
He said that the mistake did not justify the action of the soldiers, whom he chided for failing to listen to pleas by their Commanding Officer for time to address the problem.
The spokesman said, �What happened was a mix-up by the Finance Department.We had two battalions that came back from Liberia � the 72 Para-Battallion, Makurdi and the 323 Artillery, Akure. Part of the allowances of the Makurdi battalion was paid to them before they came back.
�Unfortunately, the when the Finance people went to pay the soldiers in Akure, they paid them the balance of allowances meant for the Makurdi battalion.
�When the mix-up was discovered, some of the soldiers got agitated and despite attempts by their Commanding Officer to explain the situation to them, they went on rampage.
�The situation has since been brought under control and we have set up a board of inquiry to find out why there was the mix-up by the Finance Department.
�Secondly, the board has been asked to identify all the soldiers involved in the rampage, and thirdly, any soldier found culpable, will be made to face a military trial.�
On civilians who were injured during the mayhem, he said, �The Nigerian Army wants to apologise to all Nigerians, especially those who were caught up in the unfortunate incident. We are very sorry for the misconduct of these soldiers.
�The Army does not have tolerance for such behaviour. Instead of them to allow their Commanding Officer to sort out the matter, they behaved very unprofessionally.�