The Nigerian Army has underlined that neither corruption nor unfavourable working circumstances contributed to the voluntary retirement of its members.
The disengagement of a warrant officer and 242 more personnel from various formations across the nation had just been authorised by the Army.
The army clarified the situation behind the soldiers' discharge in a statement on Saturday, claiming that voluntary retirement was common practise in the army and wasn't related to low morale or corruption.
Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the director of army public relations, issued the statement with the heading "Voluntary Retirement Or Discharge Is A Routine In The Nigerian Army."
It partly read, “The allegation that soldiers of the Nigerian Army are proceeding on voluntary retirement due to alleged corruption, poor service conditions and low morale as recently reported by some media outfits in the social media is nothing but a concoction of the imagination of the unrepentant enemies of the nation and mischief makers and should be outrightly discountenanced by the public.
“The subjective and unethical report is a distraction and another failed attempt at dampening the morale and fighting will of the loyal, dedicated and patriotic fighting force of the NA.
“Perhaps these impenitent mischief makers need to be schooled to understand that the NA is not a conscript Army and that recruitment into the NA is voluntary with extant policy on discharge and retirement of soldiers and officers respectively, like other organizations.
“This provides its personnel the opportunity to apply for voluntary discharge, when they deem fit and meet the terms and conditions as
stipulated in the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/ratings/airmen (Revised) 2017.
“It is thus, the inalienable right of a personnel to voluntarily or on medical grounds apply for discharge, if they meet the terms. It is therefore not an aberration that the COAS granted approval for 91 NA/32/4792 WO NDAGANA ISHIAKU and 242 others to voluntarily discharge from the NA, as being unprofessionally manipulated by some media.”