Army defends recall of suspended army general

THE Nigerian Army has defended the reinstatement of Maj-Gen Ahmadu Mohammed saying the decision to ‘prematurely’ retire him from the Army was illegal as well as “arbitrary.”

A statement issued by the Acting Director of Army Public Relations (ag.DAPR) Col. Sani Usman said the report by Amnesty International (AI) questioning the decision of the Army authorities to reinstate the senior Officer is in place, but the procedure that led to the compulsory retirement of the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division , Nigeria Army in Maiduguri, was incongruous to legality and appropriate laid down procedure.

It reads in part, “the Nigerian Army wishes to thank the exalted body for this observation. Although, it is not an aberration for the international human rights body to raise such an observation, however, it did not take into cognizance of the circumstances leading to his illegal retirement and the legal procedure that was followed in his reinstatement.

“The compulsory and premature retirement of Major General Mohammed did not follow due process and was rather arbitrary.”