Court Martial sanctions army commander over Boko Haram suspects escape

The special court martial set up to try former Commander of the 33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi, Brigadier-General Muraina Raji, over the escape of two Boko Haram suspects from detention at the brigade has discharged and acquitted him.

But the court martial convicted him on what it called “special findings” for which he was sentenced to three months loss of seniority.

Delivring judgment on Friday night, the presidentof the court martial, Major-General John Zaruwa said the sanction, subject to confirmation by the appropriate military authorities, was because the official failed to show interest in the escapees “who were regarded as high profile detainees”.

Zaruwa said the court martial took note of Raji’s meritorious service to the Nigeria Army for the past 33 years during which he received several commendations and awards.

“It is your willingness to cooperate with other security agencies to accept suspects for safe-keeping with good intentions which had led to this unfortunate incident of escape which led to this trial. The court found out that, in your career, you have never had any case of indiscipline, misdemeanour or misconduct. In view of all these good deeds, the court has decided to award you three months loss of seniority in your present rank of Brigadier General. This award is subject to confirmation by appropriate superior authorities.”, he stated.

The court martial was constituted by former General Officer Commanding, Three Armoured Division, Major-General John Idoko, to try Raji over alleged neglect to perform military duties punishable under Section 62(b) of Armed Forces Act (AFA) CAP A20 Law of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 by failing to provide guard and standing orders for soldiers on duty at the  Wetland Detention Facility at Shadawanka Barracks between January 17 and February 18.

He was also charged with negligent performance of military duties punishable under the same section of AFA at Shadawanka Barracks by failing to adequately assign responsibilities to officers under him to guarantee the safety of high profile detainees at the detention facility.

The third allegation was failure to perform military duties punishable under the same law for neglecting to provide feeding for the two guards performing 24 hours’ duty at detention facility as a result of which one of them went in search of food during which the detainees escaped.

Reacting to the judgment, the lead defence counsel, Mr. Femi Falana, described it as contradictory in law for a court to discharge and acquit an accused and, at the same time, slam a sentence on him.

He said: “After exonerating the general in its verdict, the special court martial, which sat in Jos, turned round, in a rather bizzare manner, to frame a new charge of conduct prejudicial to service discipline contrary to section 103 (1) of the Armed Forces Act against him.

“Without asking the accused officer to plead to the new charge and defend himself, he was convicted and sentenced to a three-month loss of seniority. Thus the special court martial turned itself into the accuser, the prosecutor, the witness and the judge in a criminal case, contrary to all known canons of natural justice.”

Falana, nonetheless, commended the speed with which the trial was conducted, urging other judicial organs to borrow from the example.

The lead defense counsel was absent at the judgement which was initially fixed for October 4 based on an agreement of the court, the prosecution and the defence, but the court later changed its mind and went ahead to deliver judgement at about 8.30 on Friday, lasting till about 10 p.m.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/court-martial-sanctions-army-commander-over-boko-haram-suspects-escape/

looks to me like he's a good man

Would've  loved to say this in a better way but "THE MODERN DAY NIGERIAN MILITARY IS SHIT AND FILLED WITH POLITICS"

3months loss of seniority,
LWKMD
The laff don kill me die finish!

Corruption kills more terrorism. Focus on that and everthing else will follow!

So that to them is punishment enough,as if no be dem plan the escape.RUBBISH.

Is this a military court martial or a civil political tribunal ,sound's more like the later,mere loss of 3 months seniority for aiding/abeting the escape of a terrorist suspect .Rubbish 4 Rubbish. He ought to have been promoted       GENERAL and made chief of Army Staff!! YEYE PPLE.

The shows that the current chief of Army staff is so powerless and can't control the hausa/fulani-dominated military.This trial is a show of shame and a National disgrace !

guess theres something we r missing from ds report:

“Without asking the accused officer to plead to the new charge and defend himself, he was convicted and sentenced to a three-month loss of seniority. Thus the special court martial turned itself into the accuser, the prosecutor, the witness and the judge in a criminal case, contrary to all known canons of natural justice.”

looks to me like the stated charges was newly presented and served as basis for his temporal demotion wtout privileged of him pleading against them. looks to me like a kangaroo cout martial process. they just must hang d poor guy for som reason.

~Bluetooth:

The shows that the current chief of Army staff is so powerless and can't control the hausa/fulani-dominated military.This trial is a show of shame and a National disgrace !

Shine your eyes! This is not hausa/fulani, it's the new power bloc in operation. MB/SS/SE

Akanbi_edu:

Shine your eyes! This is not hausa/fulani, it's the new power bloc in operation. MB/SS/SE

Shine wetin ? A suspected terrorist escaped from custody and the only punishment he could get is 3 months loss of seniority ? forget that your irrelevant powerless bloc that can't do shiit !

He must have been threatened by the bokos to let the criminals escape or face the direct wrath of the bokos.How else could they have escaped without outright jail break?

Or he could possibly be a loyal secret fundamentalist.What is going on in nigeria right now is a game of us against them,a game of evil versus evil,while the very innocent and naive ones always suffer.

No reason 2 comment

slimdude:

3months loss of seniority,
LWKMD
The laff don kill me die finish!

and what makes dis funny?

~Bluetooth:

The shows that the current chief of Army staff is so powerless and can't control the hausa/fulani-dominated military.This trial is a show of shame and a National disgrace !

You seem to be active from your post of over 9800 but your brain is sure dumb and static cause it i simply INACTIVE or else how can you claim the General on court martial is hausa/fulani just because some suspected boko haram  guys escaped from custody.I advice you not to only shine your eyes but also re-energise your brain.

mathskill:

You seem to be active from your post of over 9800 but your brain is sure dumb and static cause it i simply INACTIVE or else how can you claim the General on court martial is hausa/fulani just because some suspected boko haram  guys escaped from custody.I advice you not to only shine your eyes but also re-energise your brain.

Go back and find out the punishment for the escape of a suspect in the Nigerian Army before you start displaying your ignorance here mofo ? 3 months loss of seniority my foot !

My point of contention is not the punishment metted out to him but your jumping to the conclusion that Gen.raji is hausa/fulani .I also want to point out to you that you made the conclusion because of the  hatred,prejudice and stereotyping you have for the hausa/fulani i made you not go beyond the Generals name to confirm if he is in fact one of them.And your statement also insinuates that the fact that some boko haram suspects escaped from his command then he must have conspired in their escape.So try and look beyond your nose before making allegations.

mathskill:

My point of contention is not the punishment metted out to him but your jumping to the conclusion that Gen.raji is hausa/fulani .I also want to point out to you that you made the conclusion because of the  hatred,prejudice and stereotyping you have for the hausa/fulani i made you not go beyond the Generals name to confirm if he is in fact one of them.And your statement also insinuates that the fact that some boko haram suspects escaped from his command then he must have conspired in their escape.So try and look beyond your nose before making allegations.

It's simple.how did the terrorist escape in the first instance or are you telling me that an average hausa/fulani man doesn't have sympathy for boko haram struggle ?

one thing about the hausa's here is they don't even try to look at the truth, all they care about is defending their corrupt officer and protecting their heartless bokos

~Bluetooth:

It's simple.how did the terrorist escape in the first instance or are you telling me that an average hausa/fulani man doesn't have sympathy for boko haram struggle ?

That is were you are completely wrong,for starters the founders of boko haram are kanuri the only common factor they have with the hausa/fulani is the islam factor.Now that is were it gets a bit complicated.the boko haram guys are izala were most fulani are of the darika sect of islam,I assure you also if your claim that the average hausa/fulani is sympathetic to boko haram is true,then maiduguri will not be the only city of the 19 states in the north that will be boiling now.so please don't restrict your source  of information to pages of  newspapers.

Well if the court-marshal was fair then there is no issue. By the way there was a time a whole ship got missing in Naval custody, we did not hear of anyone being court- martialed

sammirano:

one thing about the hausa's here is they don't even try to look at the truth, all they care about is defending their corrupt officer and protecting their heartless bokos

For goodness sake the guy is not hausa ,he is yoruba from kwara.

Jimmy Boy:

Well if the court-marshal was fair then there is no issue. By the way there was a time a whole ship got missing in Naval custody, we did not hear of anyone being court- martialed

Thank you.

mathskill:

That is were you are completely wrong,for starters the founders of boko haram are kanuri the only common factor they have with the hausa/fulani is the islam factor.Now that is were it gets a bit complicated.the boko haram guys are izala were most fulani are of the darika sect of islam,I assure you also if your claim that the average hausa/fulani is sympathetic to boko haram is true,then maiduguri will not be the only city of the 19 states in the north that will be boiling now.so please don't restrict your source  of information to pages of  newspapers.

Your matter tire me o.You can't distinguish hausa/fulani based on bok harams crisis.The fulani are not just conquering hausa today,uthman dan fodio has done that a long time ago.Cultural homogenity between the two ethnic has turned them into one.if you conclude that boko haram is a thing of kanuri,how will hausa not show sympathy to their cause either because of cultural homogenity or religion affiliation ? Maiduguiri is not the only place crisis breaks out,it extend to place like bauchi,katsina,kano and other hausa territories !

LOL he deserves 6 month unpaid suspension.

mere words. no actions.

~Bluetooth:

Your matter tire me o.You can't distinguish hausa/fulani based on bok harams crisis.The fulani are not just conquering hausa today,uthman dan fodio has done that a long time ago.Cultural homogenity between the two ethnic has turned them into one.if you conclude that boko haram is a thing of kanuri,how will hausa not show sympathy to their cause either because of cultural homogenity or religion affiliation ? Maiduguiri is not the only place crisis breaks out,it extend to place like bauchi,katsina,kano and other hausa territories !

Are there not hausa's in sokoto ,zamfara,kebbi,katsina,yobe,fulani in adamawa,taraba,benue ,kogi,kwara but are they fighting? are they not muslims?even in kano the occurance of violence is less than in the 80's and 90's.