…Ruling subject to confirmation by Army council
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The Nigerian Army General Court Martial (GCM) constituted for the trial of its former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division, Sokoto, Major-General Hakeem Otiki, on Monday night found him guilty of the five-count charges preferred against him.
The former GOC, Major-General Otiki was an infantry officer. He was accused of stealing money allocated to the 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto which was expected to have been kept in the custody of the Finance Officer of the Division but diverted by the accused top Army Officer, who was also accused of engaging in private business practice outside his military responsibilities.
Consequently, the General Court Marshal which has the Chief of Policy and Plan of the Nigerian Army, Lieutenant-General Lamidi Adeosun as President with Major-Generals A. Mohammed, AA Tarfa , FO Agugo, JS Malu, M Mohammed, CT Olukoju, as members and CC Okonkwo as waiting member, announced Otiki’s demotion and dismissal from service.
The GCM in sentencing General Otiki for Stealing N100 million and N160 million respectively, being money belonging to the Nigerian Army, recommended his dismissal with disgrace and dishonor on count one, dismissal with disgrace on count two and reduction from the top rank of a Major-General to Brigadier-General with two years loss in seniority.
Otiki was also handed over severe reprimand on count one and two and disobedience to standing order under section 66 of the Nigerian Armed Forces Act (AFA) on count three, four and five.
The General Court Marshal accordingly, ordered that all monies totaling N135.8million, $6,600 recovered by the Special Investigation Bureau should be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army.
The Court also ordered that another N150million being stolen money which could not be accounted for, should also be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army.
General Otiki’s conviction and sentences are however subject to confirmation by the Army Council.
The Army Court Marshal sat and delivered its ruling at the Army Headquarters Command Officers Mess, situated at Asokoro District of the nation’s capital,
However, Otiki’s defence counsel, Mr Israel Olorundare SAN, pleaded for clemency and urged the Nigerian Army to temper justice with mercy, saying that the accused has since returned the money he was being charged for, adding that most of the projects he was accused of embarking on had been completed and or at various stages of completion.
The defence counsel also said that General Otiki, who is the bread winner of the family is due for retirement this year and presently very sick just as his wife is battling with cancer, adding that the accused lost his mother in July 2019.
The counsel further pleaded; “A career built for 35 years is coming to an end on a very sad note. It is for these reasons that we passionately ask this Court to temper justice with mercy. By next month, which is July, the accused senior officer would have been in incarceration for almost one year. So, we plead that your lordship look at the officer with compassion”.
The defence counsel after the General Court Marshal ruling and sentences, said he would make representation to the appropriate convening authority to note that General Otiki is not the one that robbed the money, stressing that he (Otiki) was the one who reported the incident.
The GCM, was inaugurated on Tuesday September, 17, 2019.
The former GOC was arrested, placed under house arrest and later moved to Abuja after five of the soldiers attached to his escort in July 2019 escaped with over N100 million while escorting an important personality to Kaduna from Sokoto.
The absconded five soldiers now at large include Corporals Gabriel Oluwaniyi, Mohammed Aminu, Lance Corporals Commander Haruna, Oluji Joshua, and Hayatudee, all attached to OPERATION HARBIN KUNAMA III of the Nigerian Army 8 Division then Commanded by Otiki.
Based on First Information Report before the GCM, “the soldiers along with a relation of Otiki were said to have abandoned their service riffles, uniforms, mobile telephones and other military accessories” and escaped with the loot.
The reports also indicated that the soldiers may have been planning the operation after being sent on several occasion to deliver huge sums of money by their principal, as they quickly relocated their families from the barracks in Jaji, Kaduna State thereby made it difficult for the Nigerian Army to track for arrest.
It also gathered based on the FIR before the GCM that one of the soldiers refused to partake in the illegal act and instead reported the development to the authorities just as he returned the N16million given to him.
