by By Admin
CITIZENS’ SOLUTION NETWORK’S PRESS RELEASE ON THE ARREST OF LANCE CORPORAL IDAKPENI MARTINS BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY
Date: 6/7/2020
Time: 8am
Today we wake up to a very depressing information concerning the arrest of Lance Corporate Idakpeni Martins of 8 Division of the Nigerian Army in Sokoto, Nigeria.
In a video sent to us last week, Lance Corporal Idakpeni Martins criticised the leadership of the Nigerian Army and accused Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai of betraying Nigeria by not supplying the Army men fighting the insurgency in the North better and adequate fire arms.
In the said video within our custody, Lance Corporal Martins accused the Army Chief of Staff of arresting and locking up innocent Nigerian Army personnel who are demanding better and adequate arms to fight insurgency in the North.
Lance Corporal Martins went on to demand that in a case where he is arrested following the release of the said video, we should endeavor that his Court Marshall should be opened for all Nigerians to see, and not to be allowed to be tried in secrecy.
At Citizens Solution Network, we expect that if officers who are willing to fight and die for this country demand weapons, they should be given and not to be rounded up, arrested and locked up in secret detention facilities as exposed by Lance Corporal Martins.
From the foregoing, there is a depressing and serious implication to this. Which simply means, Nigerian Military Personnel are sent to die at battle front without proper and adequate supply of firearms, and in event where they are seen to complain, they are arrested, and locked up in secret detention facilities rather than issued the right article of combat (AoC).
At Citizens’ Solution Network, we find this sort of arrest unfair, unjust and unacceptable, and call for the review of the conditions and on what ground an army officer or rank and file should be arrested, tried and detained. Hence the need for the National Assembly to speedily intervene and get involved into reviewing the extant laws surrounding same.
That said, we are first and foremost condemning the arrest of Lance Corporal Martins and demanding that his Court Marshall, if the military deems it necessary to have him tried, be done fairly and transparently outside the purview of secrecy.
Finally, we wish to call on the leadership of the Nigerian Military and the President of Nigeria to ensure that nothing unjust happens to Lance Corporal Martins.
Let it be on public registry that there is genuine and broad need for all Nigerians, lawyers and human right activists to rally in defence of Lance Corporal Martins and his ultimate release.
Thanks!
Signed.
Richard F. Inoyo
Country Director, Citizens Solution Network.
For: Military Population and Civilian Council.
CC:
President and Commandant-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The President of The Nigerian Senate.
The Speaker of The Nigerian House of Representatives.
The Chief of Defence Staff.
The Chief of Army Staff.
The National President, Nigerian Bar Association.
Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria.
