A Special Court- Martial that sat at the Army Headquarters (AHQ) Garrison, Abuja, has discharged and acquitted 57 soldiers on charges of loss of weapons as well as Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL).
The court martial, however, convicted 15 other accused soldiers, and consequently sentenced them to one year imprisonment.
The Special Court Martial was established solely for the trial of soldiers whose offences were related to failure to account for weapons assigned to them, in the course of their involvement in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
A highly-placed source said the fate of the soldiers was decided on Tuesday night hours after the prosecution and defence counsel adopted their written addresses.
He added that a new court martial was inaugurated Wednesday, to try accused officers from the rank of Lieutenant Colonel down.
“A Special Court- Martial, which was constituted a few weeks ago handed down its verdict on Tuesday night, after listening to the final submissions, by way of written addresses of both prosecuting and defence counsel.
“Out of the 72 accused soldiers, 57 were discharged and acquitted, whereas 15 others were found guilty of offences relating to loss of weapons and AWOL.
“A fresh court has been inaugurated; it will try officers from the Lieutenant Colonel rank and below,” he noted.
Asked what the status of Brigadier General E. Ransome-Kuti’s case is, the source said: “Because he is a very senior Army officer, I think what the Army wants to do, is to clear other pending cases involving junior officers and soldiers, so that a GCM can be inaugurated to try him and his Commanding Officers (CO).”
The Army is holding Gen. Ransome-Kuti and his lieutenants over Boko Haram’s attack on the Headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Baga, Borno State, which the one-star general had commanded.
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