'He was preaching on social media' - Army explains action against a Christian convert

The Nigerian army has denied arresting a Lance Corporal identified as Musa Adamu for “converting to Christianity”.

Onyema Nwachukwu, the army spokesperson, in a statement on Tuesday, said Adamu was taken into custody for violating some provisions of the armed forces act.

“To set the records straight, Lance Cpl. Musa Adamu, a personnel of the Amphibious Training School, was attached to 63 brigade to participate in an ongoing operation.

“During the operation, he was found preaching in uniform on a social media platform in violation of the extant social media policy for the armed forces of Nigeria,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Nwachukwu as saying.

“This prompted his invitation for interrogation by relevant authorities. Rather than present himself for the investigation, he absconded for about six and a half months, resulting in the declaration of the soldier on absence without official leave (AWOL).

“The action of the personnel violates section 58 (a) (b) obstruction of provost officers and section 59 (a) (b) absence without leave.

“It must be clarified that once a personnel is absent from his unit for seven days without any justification, he will be declared AWOL. This automatically triggers the freezing of his salary account, until the personnel returns to the unit and is arraigned and sanctioned,” the statement stated.

Nwachukwu further said the Nigerian army is guided by ethics, traditions and military laws, which guide personnel on their conduct, adding that the violation of those ideals and statutory stipulations evoke sanctions, irrespective of the faith of the offender.