Nigeria: Five Task Force Members to Face Trial for Misconduct – CDS

27 July 2011

Five military officers in the Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order in Maiduguri are to be tried for misconduct, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Oluseyin Petinrin, has said.

Petinrin made the disclosure in Maiduguri on Wednesday while speaking with newsmen after an official visit to get first hand information.

Petinrin, who was reacting to allegations of excesses by members of the task force, said the military authority was doing everything possible to address lapses in the operations. He faulted calls for the withdrawal of soldiers from Maiduguri streets by some groups, saying it was self-centred and that the military personnel sent to Maiduguri would not leave until the Federal Government achieved its target of restoring peace in Borno.

He noted that the Maiduguri operation had been difficult because the issue of terrorism was strange in the country. “Now we are gradually getting to its root and soon we will get over it and pull our soldiers back to their base,” he said. “We are here to stamp out those shooting people and throwing explosives in market places. We are not here to fight a religious war.”

AllAfrica – All the Time