Major, 5 soldiers bag life
jail for gunrunning
From KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
An Army officer, Major Suleiman Alabi Akubo and five soldiers
have been sentenced to life imprisonment for selling over
7,000 military weapons belonging to the Nigerian Army to the
Henry Okah-led Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND) at a whopping N100 million.
Others sentenced to life imprisonment along with Major Akubo
whom the General Court Martial (GCM) described as lynchpin
of the syndicate are Sergeant Matthias Peters (79NA/966),
Lance Corporal Alexander Davou (97/NA/45/4618), Lance Corporal
Moses Nwaigwe (97/NA/45/6565), Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene
(02N/52/5191) and Private Caleb Bawa (96/NA/43/8839).
Two others soldiers, Corporals Kola David (79NA/2834) and
Mohammed Aliyu (79NA/32008) had their ranks reduced to private.
The eight soldiers had been standing trial before the GCM
presided over by Brig-General Bala Usara on a six-count charge
of criminal conspiracy, illegally dealing in firearms and
unlawfully furnishing the Niger Delta militants with over
7,000 arms of various descriptions, property of the Nigerian
Army through one Sunny Okah, younger brother of Henry Okah
currently standing trial for a similar offence in Jos, Plateau
State.
According to the President of the GCM, Brig. General Bala
Usara, the six convicted soldiers committed civil offence
to wit criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 97 (1)
(1) of the Penal Code and triable in a court martial by virtue
of Section 114 (1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of
the Federation of Nigeria 2004; criminal breach of trust punishable
under Section 215 of the Penal Code and triable in a court
martial by virtue of section 114 (1) of the Armed Forces Act
Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and criminal
conspiracy punishable under Section 971 of the Penal Code
and triable in a court martial by virtue of Section 114 (1)
of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria 2004.
He also said the convicted soldiers illegally dealt in firearms
contrary to Section 9(1) of the Firearms Act Cap 4 (28) Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and triable in a court martial
by virtue of Section 114 (1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20
Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, criminal conspiracy
punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code and triable
in a court martial by virtue of Section 114 (1) of the Armed
Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004
and aided the enemy punishable under Section 45 (2d) of the
Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria
2004.
Usara said the convicted soldiers committed the offences at
Jaji and Kaduna in Kaduna State on various days and occasions
between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2006 and that they
agreed between and among themselves and others at large to
commit the offence of criminal breach of trust by dishonestly
disposing off over 7,000 arms of various descriptions, property
of the Nigerian Army entrusted in their care to Mr. Sunny
Bowei Okah for an estimated sum of over N100million.
The GCM president said: “The convicts are hereby sentenced
as follows: Count One: Major S.A. Akubo, 10 years imprisonment;
Sergeant Matthias Peters, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal
Alexander Davou, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses
Nwaigwe, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene,
10 years imprisonment; and Private Caleb Bawa, 10 years imprisonment.
“Count two: Major S.A Akubo, 10 years imprisonment;
Sergeant Matthias Peters, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal
Alexander Davou, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses
Nwaigwe, 10 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene,
10 years imprisonment; and Private Caleb Bawa, 10 years imprisonment.
“Count three: Major S.A Akubo, 5 years imprisonment;
Sergeant Matthias Peters, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal
Alexander Davou, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses
Nwaigwe, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene,
5 years imprisonment; and Private Caleb Bawa, 5 years imprisonment.
“Count four: Major S.A Akubo, 5 years imprisonment;
Sergeant Matthias Peters, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal
Alexander Davou, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses
Nwaigwe, 5 years imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene,
5 years imprisonment; and Private Caleb Bawa, 5 years imprisonment.
“Count five: Major S.A Akubo, life imprisonment; Sergeant
Matthias Peters, life imprisonment; Lance Corporal Alexander
Davou, life imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses Nwaigwe, life
imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene, life imprisonment;
and Private Caleb Bawa, life imprisonment.
“Count six: Major S.A Akubo, life imprisonment; Sergeant
Matthias Peters, life imprisonment; Lance Corporal Alexander
Davou, life imprisonment; Lance Corporal Moses Nwaigwe, life
imprisonment; Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene, life imprisonment;
and Private Caleb Bawa, life imprisonment.”
Usara added that the sentences passed on the convicted officer
and five soldiers would run concurrently but subject to the
confirmation of the appropriate superior authority.
The GCM, however, reduced corporals Kola David and Aliyu Mohammed
to the rank of private soldiers.
Immediately after the sentence was passed on the convicts,
the judge advocate of the GCM ordered soldiers to take Akubo
and the other soldiers into custody to avoid a situation where
anyone of them would attempt an escape.
Heavily armed soldiers also immediately surrounded the convicts
and took them into a waiting room where they were handcuffed
and later led into a waiting Army civilian bus, which took
them back to the guardroom where they would remain in custody
pending their transfer to the civil prison after the confirmation
of the sentence by the Army high command.
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