Fact Check: Was Nigerian Soldier Dismissed for Preaching the Gospel after Conversion?
Claim: A video of a dismissed military man trending on social platforms claimed that he was arrested and dismissed for “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” on social media after converting to Christianity from Islam.
Full text: The caption of the viral video read: ‘Nigerian soldier dismissed for wearing his soldier uniform and always praying and preaching on Tiktok’.
In July 2023, Adamu, a Lance Corporal with service number 13NA/70/6100 and attached to Amphibious Training School Personnel (ATSCalabar) unit in Calabar, Cross River State, was arrested by the Nigerian Military.
A lot of controversial posts went viral on social media platforms and online news websites claiming that he was arrested for converting from Islam to Christianity. Others reported that he was arrested for preaching gospel on social media platforms.
On September 1, 2023, a video of the corporal went viral on social platforms, where he said he was dismissed from the Nigerian army on 15th of August 2023 on three charge counts; “The first was using the uniform to preach on the social media, the second knowingly fully well that using uniform to preach is an offence and I went ahead and do it which is disobedient to particular orders, then the third when I was instructed to go and report in Abuja for investigation I did not go. So these are the three count charges that take me out of the military” he said.
Verification: PRNigeria fact check desk discovered that the Nigerian military has issued an official statement on the soldier.
Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Public Relations in a statement described some of the reports on the soldier as “false, a misrepresentation of the true situation, and an outrageous falsehood, tainted with religious bigotry, being peddled against the Nigerian Army.”
According to the statement, Lance Corporal Musa Adamu of the Amphibious Training School was attached to 63 Brigade to participate in an ongoing operation, during which he was found preaching in uniform on a social media platform in violation of the extant social media policy of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“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 as Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).”
Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu stated that “the action of the personnel violates Section 58 (a) (b) Obstruction of Provost Officers and Section 59 (a) (b) Absence Without Leave”.
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The statement further added: “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 his unit and is arraigned and sanctioned.
“It is equally important to state that contrary to the erroneous impression that the soldier is being victimised for converting from Islam to Christianity and for preaching the gospel, the soldier was rather taken into custody for investigation and in pursuance of statutory provisions enshrined in the Armed Forces Act CAP 20, the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which the soldier contravened. His detention is, therefore, not unlawful.”
PRNigeria reached out to multiple military sources who corroborated the official statement and pointed to the relevant provisions of the military law but pleaded anonymity since they were not authorised to speak to the press.
Meanwhile, PRNigeria can authoritatively report that there are cases of military personnel being sanctioned for violating military rules and regulations on social media usage.
For instance, about 140 military personnel were penalized in 2018 for violating the military social media guidelines.
Similarly, on 15th of November 2021, a well known social media skit maker Abdulgafar Ahmad, aka Cute Abiola, was also arrested on the ground of violating military social media regulations, leading to his voluntary resignation from the force.
Conclusion: Analyzing relevant provisions of the service, Lance Corporal Musa Adamu, the Benue state-born who bears Aaron Abraham on social media, was penalized for violating military guidelines on the use of social media and for absconding without presenting himself for fair hearing – Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).
PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim that Lance Corporal Musa Adamu was dismissed for converting to Christianity and preaching the gospel on social media is MISLEADING and an elaborate misrepresentation of the facts.
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By PRNigeria
