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The Nigerian Army has dismissed a soldier identified as Musa Adamu for preaching about Jesus Christ while in service uniform on social media.
SaharaReporters in July reported how Adamu, a Lance Corporal with service number 13NA/70/6100 and attached to the Amphibious Training School Personnel (ATSCalabar) unit in Calabar, Cross River State was detained by the army authorities.
However, Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said contrary to the report, the soldier was in custody for violation of some provisions of the Armed Forces Act and not on religious grounds.
“During the operation, he was found preaching in uniform on a social media platform in violation of extant Social Media policy for 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 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,” the army spokesman had said.
But in a video seen by SaharaReporters, the soldier with the Facebook name “Aaron Abraham” revealed he had been dismissed from the army.
“By the grace of God, I have been dismissed by the Nigerian Army. I was given three charges; the first, using the uniform to preach on social media,” he was heard saying in the video.
“The second, knowing fully well that using the uniform to preach is an offence and I went ahead to do it, which is disobedience to a particular order.”
The Benue state-born soldier was said to have spent over 50 days in detention while his salary was stopped over seven months ago before his dismissal.
A military source earlier narrated to SaharaReporters how Adamu who was born a Muslim recently converted to Christianity.
“One of my colleague soldiers in the Nigerian Army that preaches on Facebook with the uniform is currently being locked up by the Army authorities and today makes it 49 days,” a soldier had told SaharaReporters.
“They are not paying his salary as well and not feeding him. His name on Facebook is Aaron Abraham but Musa Adamu is his name in the military. He was born a Muslim but converted.
“His offence, according to the GOC, is preaching the gospel on uniform. I heard they already blocked his account for over 10 months now.”
In 2019, a video of a police officer preaching in a place that looks like an entrance to a market went viral.
The policeman was in his service uniform while moving on the streets to preach to local traders, shoppers, and passers-by.
Wearing a police uniform, sky blue top and black trousers, he was heard shouting through a microphone about his “encounter” with God and how the then police commissioner in Abia State summoned him over his style of preaching.
“Yesterday, I did not go out for outreach because I was summoned by the commissioner of police, Abia State, warning me, saying ‘Why did you wear a police uniform and preach the gospel? What is it that gives you the courage?” he had said.
“I said, ‘Ma, by the special grace of God, I did not wear the uniform to preach on my own, God directed me to wear the uniform and preach the gospel, and that is why I do it.’
The man further said in the clip that he came out “well-prepared in the spirit.”
“Whether you like it or not, if you like, be the highest demon in the whole world, God will bring you down today. I am boasting in my father in the Lord, in heaven, the one that called me, the one that gave me the mandate and said, “Go out and preach the gospel,” he had said. [SaharaReporters]