Army Begins Trial of General, 22 Others Today

The military authorities will on Monday (today)
commence the trial of a Brigadier General, four
colonels, seven Lt. Cols, and 10 other officers of
the Nigerian Army in Lagos.
The soldiers are being tried for alleged negligence
and complicity in the invasion of the 21 Artillery
Brigade, Bama, by Boko Haram insurgents on
September 2, 2014.

 The Lagos trial promises to be the biggest of the
recent military court martial in the country.
For the first time, 23 very senior officers of the
service would be arraigned for offences bordering
on the counter-insurgency operations in the
North-East zone.

 The we learnt that the 23 Army officers would
be prosecuted for various military offences under
the 81 Division, GCM, Lagos, scheduled for
inauguration at the Ikeja Cantonment today.
The GCM will be presided over by Maj. Gen. S.D
Aliyu.

 Our correspondent learnt that the officers were
being accused of cowardly behaviour, failure to
perform military duty, negligent performance of
military duties and other offences relating to
service property, among others.
It was learnt that one of the offences relating to
service property was central to the setting up of
the GCM.

 A military source, who confided in our
correspondent, explained that “the offence of
cowardly behaviour attracts the death penalty
while other offences attract nothing less than two
years imprisonment.”

Leadership of the military had commenced
investigations into the Boko Haram invasion of the
21 Artillery Brigade, Bama, shortly after the
barracks fell to the insurgents, who were said to
have carted away large quantity of arms and
ammunition.

 The military leaders were said to be of the view
that the insurgents did not encounter the expected
degree of resistance before overrunning the
barracks.

 Prior to the invasion of the barracks, the military
authorities had taken the decision to relocate the
21 Armoured Brigade from Maiduguri to Bama
because of the proximity of the latter to the theatre
of operation.

 Senior military personnel had said last year that
the military strategists who took the decision were
of the view that the movement of the Brigade would
create room for a more effective prosecution of the
campaign against the insurgents.

 Our correspondent could not get the Director of
Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, to
comment on the trial opening in Lagos today as the
calls to his mobile telephone line did not connect.
WorldPress