The Nigerian Army has debunked claims by a dismissed soldier, Trooper Temple Ahunanya that he was arrested, tried and sentenced to death for requesting better weapons to fight Boko Haram Insurgents.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, September 29, in Abuja.
Nwachukwu said that the dismissed soldier came up with the lies to whip up sentiment and defraud members of the public.
He said that Ahunanya passed through the rigorous military training but lacked the requisite qualities to progress with the profession.
According to him, Ahunanya is a bad egg and a cancerous element that negatively infiltrated the ranks, corrupting the good conduct and morale of troops in the process.
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“It is also important for the public to note that dismissed Trooper Ahunanya was enlisted in the Nigerian Army on Aug. 20, 2012, and likewise passed out from training on Dec. 17 of the same year.
“He was arrested in 2014, tried and dismissed for conduct prejudicial to military discipline and cowardice.
“He was convicted but escaped while awaiting Army Council’s approval of his verdict. This singular act portrays a tendency for evasion of justice and criminality.
“Hence the general public must beware not to be misguided by his misconstrued narratives as a failure on the part of the military or the government.
“It is a ploy to create and peddle falsehood in the media space to gain undeserved sympathy,” he said.
Nwachukwu further disclosed that while in service, Ahunanya was rude; undisciplined; criminally minded; and also a very uncultured individual; who failed to imbibe the basic ethics and regimentation of the military profession.
He said that Ahunanya’s unpatriotic and cowardly tendencies manifested; when he was deployed for a mission to counter Boko Haram terrorist attacks and save the lives of innocent Nigerians.
He said that the dismissed soldier disobeyed and led other cowardly soldiers to disobey duly constituted authority against extant military laws.
According to Nwachukwu, Ahunanya still displayed his criminal tendency in his video, as he disparaged the Nigerian Army to spike sympathy and whip up sentiment.
“This was to lure unsuspecting members of the public to raise funds for his criminal activities; by posting his bank account details along side his video.”
He described the video as an attempt to financially hoodwink members of the public.
