ABUJA—Ninety-seven soldiers including four Lieutenant Colonels, a Major and four captains were, yesterday, charged with offences ranging from mutiny, conduct prejudicial to good orders, assault and Absence Without Leave, AWOL, to house breaking, contrary to service discipline.The accused persons will however, be formally arraigned before the General Court Martial, GCM, convened on behalf of the Army authorities by the Commander, Army Headquarters Garrison, Brigadier General B.T Ndiomu on October 15.Soldiers tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants arrive to face trials for mutiny in Abuja on October 2, 2014. Nearly 100 soldiers tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Nigeria’s far northeast appeared at a military court martial on Thursday, facing a range of charges including mutiny. The hearing comes just weeks after a tribunal sentenced 12 soldiers to death following their conviction for shooting at their commanding officer in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in May. AFP PHOTOThe GCM has Brigadier General Musa Sani Yusuf as president with Col. Umar Mohammed, Col. Rabe Abubakar, Col. Mohammed Lawan Ibrahim, Col. Muktar Mohammed Bunza, Col. Jonathan Gontor, Col. KN Garba, Col. Godwin Anayo Ugwueze, Col. BR Abimiku as members.According to the military, the Prosecuting Officers include, Capt. J.A. Orumor, Capt. R.S. Agwai, Capt. J.E. Nwosu, Capt. W.F. David, Capt. P.N. Nwachi, Capt. V.L. Williams, Lieutenant A.M. Sani, Lieutenant N. Okorie and Lance Corporal Chukwu Prince-Augustine.Also, the waiting members are Col. Abubakar T. Ibrahim, Lt. Col. Victor OlatudeOlatunji while Lt. Col. Ukpe Ukpe will serve as the Judge Advocate.For the Defence, prominent Lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, is leading others among who are Major Oyebanji (rtd), Mr. Shuaibu Isa, Mr. J.O.K. Irikefe, Mr. Paul Ocheme, Mr. Mike Ebogu and Colonel Godwin Anyalemechi.Speaking shortly after inaugurating the GCM, the Army assured the accused soldiers, their counsel and the nation that the court will be guided throughout the trialby the principles of fair hearing and justice.“You shall be given the facilities and conditions necessary for the proper defence of your cases. In line with the provisions of section 35 (5) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), every one of you shall be presumed innocent by the court until it is proved otherwise.“Let me further assure you that the GCM will base its decisions and findings only on the facts presented before it. In other words, this court will not give room for or be influenced by any extraneous matter which is not presented before this court.“We intend to patiently and painstakingly listen to all evidence that will be brought before this court to ensure that no innocentperson is convicted as it is better for nine guilty persons to go free than for one innocent person to suffer,” the GCM President added.Furthermore, Yusuf said: “We will do our best to make sure that justice is done; justice to the accused persons, and justice to the state. The Nigerian Army is for justice and we are therefore, going to make sure that this is applied to everybody.“Nobody has stopped the salary of any of the accused officers and soldiers; they have access to their families, and lawyers. To the best of my knowledge, none of themhas been denied access to anything and wepromise their lawyers that if at all there is any document that has not been released to facilitate their defence; we will release them as and when necessary.’’On issues raised against the Judge Advocate, JA, Brig-Gen. Yusuf said: “There isno contention concerning the role of the JA.Like the Prosecuting Counsel said, the case is normally investigated by the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police and they have very competent lawyers.‘’After investigation, the one that will be charged, they normally frame the charges.“So the JA is never part of the investigation or framing of the charges against the accused persons. The JA is a personnel of the Army Headquarters Garrison; remember these accused officers and soldiers allegedly committed the offences outside AHQ Garrison.The offences were allegedly committed in various locations, which means that they were investigated in those locations and asat the time they committed those offences the Judge Advocate was never the Commanding Officer of any of those accused persons.Members of the court martial sit during theinauguration to try soldiers accused of mutiny tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Abuja on October 2, 2014. Nearly 100 soldiers tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Nigeria’s far northeast appeared at a military court martial on Thursday, facing a range of charges including mutiny. The hearing comes just weeks after a tribunal sentenced 12 soldiers to death following their conviction for shooting at their commanding officer in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in May. AFP PHOTO“To the best of our ability, we have advisedboth counsel; prosecution and defence to as much as possible not to prolong our stayon this matter. We don’t want an unnecessary adjournments; that is why we advise them to as much as possible, finish this case on time.There was heated argument shortly after the inauguration, however, as yesterday asdefence Counsel of the 97 accused soldiersquestioned the rationale by the JA, Lt Col. Ukpe Ukpe to be at the GCM when he issued the legal advice for the officers and soldiers to be prosecuted.Meanwhile, a breakdown of the figure showed that four Lt Colonels, one Major, four Captains, five Lieutenants, one SecondLieutenant and one Warrant Officer and 81soldiers would be tried.Replying, the defence counsel, Falana decried lack of Covenning Oder, charge sheet and summary of evidence against the accused soldiers.In an interview later, Chief Falana said: “I have no cause to doubt the integrity of the members of the court. I have taken part in a number of courts of this nature and even where we lost, we had gone on appeal andwe succeeded. So there is no cause for alarm. I think the President of the court hasassured the accused persons that justice will be done.‘’We have not been appropriately charged, we don’t have the charge sheet, we don’t have the convening order, we don’t have the summary of evidence of those who are coming to give evidence against our clients and the law says that all accused persons are entitled to the full materials for their defence.‘’The court has also made a point that all necessary documents would be made available to counsel for the accused persons so that trial can commence in earnest. As far as the defence is concernedwe will try as much as possible to ensure that we get justice for our clients. This is notan abnormal court. It is part of the courts created by the constitution. Under military dictatorship, everything would have been shrouded in secrecy with the press invited only during judgment.Where we were not comfortable, we have raised our concern and the court has given the appropriate order.Lawyers question choice of Judge AdvocateJudge Advocate Ukpe relying on section 134 (2) of the Armed Forces Act, however, ‘’Nothing excludes me as the JA, from participating in the trial. Investigation should not be confused with legal advice, he said.THE ACCUSED PERSONS1. Lt Col Ss Tilawan2..lt Col Db Danzang3.lt Col Ic Ogamanya4.lt Col Su AbubakarMembers of the court martial sit during theinauguration to try soldiers accused of mutiny tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Abuja on October 2, 2014. Nearly 100 soldiers tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Nigeria’s far northeast appeared at a military court martial on Thursday, facing a range of charges including mutiny. The hearing comes just weeks after a tribunal sentenced 12 soldiers to death following their conviction for shooting at their commanding officer in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in May. AFP PHOTO5. Maj Ii Sakaba6. Capt 1\1 Hamadikko7.capt Z Alhaji8 Capt Mb Abdullahi9. Capt Sy Musa10. Lt T Garba11. Lt F Ogunleke12.Lt a Abdullahi13.Lt Im Okoro14. Lt D Wunuji15. 2lt Jm Uweh16.Wo Benedict Okoye17. Sgt Oladipo18.Cpl Mustapha Bandado19.cpl Andrew Ogolekwu20. Cpi Saturday Efa21.Cpl Usman Mohammed22. Lcpl Henry Shaibu23. Lcpl James24. Cpl Daniel Joshua25. Lcpl Ndubisi Sebastine26.Lcpl Dauda Dalha Tu27. Lcpl Aliyu Ahmed28. Lcpl Kasega Aoso29. Lcpl Bankole Taiwo30.lcpl Ochehepo Sule31.lcpl Ayodele Ola Wole32.lcpl Isaiah Olofu33.lcpi Ibrahim Yahana34.lcpl Mallam Jacob3s.lcpl Nwonu Friday36.lcpl Yusuf Habu37.pte Chindo Julius38.lcpl Joshua Friday39.lcpl Gbenga Adeba Yo40.lcpl Ali Abdullahi41.lcpl Abubakar Ibrahim42.lcpl Anthony Simeon43.lcpj Ngene Douglas44.pte Olayode Oluwasegun45.pte Jimba Ahmed46.lcpl Ibrahim Yohana47.pte Tijjani Jimoh48.pte Kabiru Abubakar49.pte Mamuda Sywasan50.pte James Emmanuel51.pte Mukaila Musa57.pte Ahunanya Temple53.pte Eyakise Uwah54.pte Ilesanmi Seun55.pte Ishiaku Solomon55. Pte Audu Daniel56.Pte Boaz Lucky57.Pte Mohammed Abubakar58.pte Anas a Walu59.pte Babangida Jamilu60.pte Nasiru Zubairu61.pte Shehu Sa’adu62.pte Mohammed Suleiman64.pte Hashimu Ibrahim65.tpr Nnanna Promise66.Pte Magaji Ahmadu67.Pte Amao Bukola68.Pte Wuyep John69.Pte Oti Kelvin70.Pte Ameh Mathew71.Pte Olaitan Joseph72.Pte Kulukulu Endurance73.Pte Usman Isaac74.Pte Ocheje Williams75.Pte Adila Dangana76.Pte Sudan Hannania77.Pte Sunday Godwin78.Pte Datti Hassan79.Pte Abubakar Garba80.pte Joseph Dauda81.Pte Chiemela Azubulke82.Pte Abubakar Mohammed83.Pte Anagu Mark84.Pte Danbaba Francis85.Pte Oton Asuabiat86Pte Nwachukwu Udo87.Pte Ibrahim Saliu88.Pte Abafe Syl Vester89.Pte Eze Isaac90.Pte Abubakar Mohammed91.Pte Samuel Michael92.Pte Ishaya Musa93.Pte Ogai Douglas94.Pte Peter95.Pte Hermas Okpe96.Tpr Oyedokun Halimat97. Pte Nafiu Umar
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:13:53 +0000
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