nda dismisses 15 over homosexuality

By Chuks Okocha (This Day, Lagos)

February 3, 2006: Nigerian Defence Academy [NDA] has dismissed a total number of 15 of its officer cadets over acts of homosexuality and sodomy. The Army Public Relations Officer [APRO] at the institution, Major Timothy Atigha, who briefed the press yesterday described the incident as inappropriate sexual conduct unbecoming of officer cadets.

According to him, "sodomy is a great misconduct and also against the current of our societal norms. It is a serious infraction on the spirit and letter of the Armed Forces Act. Section 81 sub-section 1.

"Consequently, there is no way the academy which is the foundation of the Armed Forces would condone such behaviour. In view of this, the NDA has dismissed 15 offending officer cadets from the institution."

Atigha explained that "Findings from the medical investigations confirmed that some officer cadets from across the levels [1-5] were neck-deep in this despicable and unwholesome conduct.

"Looking back at the dreams of the founding fathers of this great institution and considering the serious implications of this aberrant behaviour on our collective ethos, the decision to expel these officer cadets had to be taken, to serve as a deterrent to other cadets who might contemplate this conduct, prevent the pollution of other cadets and to retain the confidence the public has on this great institution."