By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Nigerian Army court martial has sacked Major-General Hakeem
Otiki over a missing N400 million after a military court found him guilty on all counts levelled against him.
During its sitting at the army headquarters garrison in Abuja on Monday night, the court martial found Otiki, a former General Officer Commanding (GOC) guilty on all the five-count charges against him and subsequently dismissed him from the service “with disgrace and dishonour”.
Also included as part of his sentence is a reduction of his rank to brigadier general with two years seniority on count three and severe reprimand on count four.
The panel also ordered that various sums of money, including $6,600, said to have been recovered from him by the Special Investigation Bureau be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army.
Though the sentence of the court martial, headed by Lamidi Adeosun, a lieutenant-general, is subject to approval by the army council, the Adeosun-led general court martial’s pronouncements stand for now.
The major general was charged under the armed forces act (AFA) after soldiers in his detail reportedly stole money estimated to be N400 million.
Recall that General Otiki’s trial started in September, 2019 amid intense drama at the sitting in Abuja.
He was the general officer commanding of the Nigerian army 8 division in Sokoto who sent some soldiers to transport some cash to Kaduna by road from where it would be taken to Abuja.
A military aircraft was said to be waiting in Kaduna but the soldiers plotted to steal the money during a stop in Kaduna and subsequently deserted the army.
Otiki was then arrested after the theft and placed under house arrest until his trial by the court-martial.
When his trial started in 2019, Femi Oyebanjo, a retired major and counsel to Otiki, kicked against his client’s prosecution under Adeosun’s leadership.
He had told the panel head: “We have it on good authority that you bear grudge against our client. We have this deep feeling that he may not get a fair trial under your leadership.”
