By Wale Igbintade

By following due process in the trial and conviction of the former Group Managing Director of the Army Properties Limited, Maj. Gen. Umaru Mohammed, and resorting to arbitrariness and impunity in the compulsory retirement of 38 senior army officers without subjecting them to any query or indictment by any panel, the Nigerian Army condones double standard in its justice system.

A Nigerian Army Special Court-martial sitting in Abuja recently sentenced the former Group Managing Director of the Army Properties Limited (NAPL), Maj. Gen. Umaru Mohammed, to seven years imprisonment. The court also ordered him to pay back $2,178,900 and N1.65 billion to the Army and NAPL.

Mohammed was tried on 18 counts. The charges included stealing, forgery, conspiracy, theft, misappropriation of funds, and unauthorised diversion of Army property, among others. Although he pleaded not guilty to all the charges levelled against him, Mohammed was found guilty of 14 out of 18 counts brought against him, which are all contrary to service laws.

In one of the charges on which he was found guilty, Mohammed was alleged to have collected the sum of $1, 045,400 paid by shipping companies for the use of Nigerian Army Jetty located at 6 Marina, Victoria Island, Lagos. He was also found guilty of a theft of $430,800 being monies paid into the Nigerian Army Domiciliary account at Unity Bank, Abuja, for use of Nigerian Army Jetty, Marina, Lagos. The court martial also found him guilty of withdrawing and confiscating the sum of N74 million out of N75 million paid for a property belonging to the Nigerian Army at Ikoyi, Lagos.

Not even the convict’s confession and testimony during cross-examination that the allocation of houses to civilians and other malfeasance were on the directive of a former Chief of Army Staff could save him.

While many observers have hailed the new Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, for giving Gen Mohammed a fair hearing, describing it as a positive step towards ensuring justice in the Army, they however condemned the tenure of Lt. General Tukur Buratai (rtd) as Chief of Staff where injustice, lack of fair hearing and arbitrariness reigned supreme.

They specifically urged Gen. Lagbaja to revisit the compulsory retirement of the 38 senior Army officers who were eased out of service in 2016 to give the officers and men confidence in the service and also enthrone the principles of justice, equity and fairness.

In 2016, the Nigerian Army under the leadership of Buratai, forced out of service 38 senior army officers without recourse to due process, fair hearing and rules of disengagement in the Nigerian military.

Most of the affected officers, who are still young and have a lot to offer Nigeria, were neither queried nor indicted by any panel or charged before any court-martial, were flushed out for reasons that smack of high-level arbitrariness and witch-hunting by authorities of the army.

But while being court-martialed, Gen Mohammed was being held in secret detention since January 2022.

The 38 officers subsequently petitioned the then President Muhammadu Buhari, in line with the military’s rules to seek redress. But even after petitioning the president, seven years on, their fates still hang in the balance.

Having lost confidence in the ability of the military authorities to give them justice, several of the officers approached the National Industrial Court (NIC) to clear their names and rebuild their careers. As of the last count, the Army had lost all the cases as it could not provide any shred of evidence to substantiate the false accusations against the officers.

But despite various court orders, the Nigerian Army and former President Buhari refused to ensure justice by reinstating the soldiers, who are some of the country’s brightest in internal and external security operations. One of the officers, Ojebo Ochankpa, died in 2017 while awaiting justice, leaving a widow and three children.

A security expert, Labaran Saleh, regretted that the stories of the personnel “remain a cautionary tale for the country.” He decried that none of them faced any formal charge issued to them, or a court-martial panel before their dismissal.

Saleh said the Armed Forces Act prescribes steps to be taken in punishing offences but doesn’t empower the Army Council to arbitrarily punish or retire officers. He warned that if the 38 officers do not receive justice, “the direct and proximate result is the destruction of the morale of those still in service, with the resulting impact on efficiency and commitment. The impact on the effectiveness, cohesion, and dedication of the Army is best imagined.”

“That act was a clear example of injustice meted out on the officers. But now we have a serving general accused of stealing, yet he was formally charged and granted a fair hearing via a court martial to prove his guilt. So why will the army give some officers a fair hearing, and others will be denied a fair hearing? Is that not a clear example of an Army of double standards? Several of these officers went to court to prove their innocence and won their cases before a competent court of law. Why will the Nigerian Army not obey court orders? Are they above the law? Do the army authorities not have a sense of responsibility and moral courage to correct the wrongs and injustices of the past to give their fellow officers/colleagues justice?” Saleh queried.

Recently, in his Democracy Day address, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said, “Democracy is about the rule of law and a vibrant judiciary that can be trusted to deliver justice and strengthen institutions.”

Also, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) had stated that this government will obey the rule of law and ensure justice and fairness to all. Many feel that these promises to ensure the rule of law and justice in government should start from the military by ensuring that the Army respects and obeys court orders or judgments.

On July 27, 2023, one of the affected officers, Lt. Col. Abdulfatai Mohammed submitted a letter to Tinubu’s office, urging the president to prevail on the army to obey the court orders that declared his retirement illegal. Mohammed said he wrote the letter based on the “avowed commitment to justice” the president indicated in his “inauguration speech.”

“I am confident in your leadership and steadfastness for justice/rule of law and optimistic that you will grant me full restoration to put my career back on course as I never deserved the ill-treatment of over 7 years of compulsory retirement that was meted to me,” the letter read.

His letter revealed a harrowing tale of woes, pain, hardship, difficulties, and injustices he and his colleagues had experienced. It displayed particularly the insensitivity and indifference of the Nigerian Army to the plight of him and others.

Mohammed is one of several officers who went to the NIC to clear his name. Others who obtained judgements ordering their reinstatement include Generals Ijioma and Saad, Colonels Hassan, Suleiman, Arigbe, Dazang and AS Mohammed.

Stakeholders have remarked that the Army 38 is a litmus test for this administration to curb corruption in the military, and enshrine the rule of law and justice in the military by ensuring the Nigerian Army complies with the valid and subsisting court orders.

With the Army exhausting its appeal on the judgments in favour of the officers, stakeholders have urgee the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, in his capacity as the chief law officer of the country to compel the Force to comply with the decisions in the interest of justice and fairness.

“The AGF just has to sound a strong note of warning to the Nigerian Army. He also needs to let it know in clear terms that it cannot continue to be above the law of the land. It has to obey the judgments of the courts. He equally needs to let the Army know that it is ridiculing the courts by not obeying its decisions, and this is sending a dangerous message across,” said one of the analysts.

In this article