Army postpones court-martial of 22 senior officers

The court-martial of 22 senior army officers including a Brigadier-General earlier scheduled to begin yesterday at the 9th Brigade Headquarters of the Nigerian Army, Lagos, was postponed till the end of the month.

Mr. Femi Falana, human rights activist and counsel to the 22 officers, told our correspondent after yesterday’s botched sitting that he had asked the authorities to grant the officers bail until they were ready to prosecute them.

According to him, there is no point detaining them when the charges against them are not ready. Falana assured that the officers would not abscond after getting bail. It would be recalled that the court-martial of the 22 officers was earlier scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16, 2015 but was postponed. The case was then reassigned to commence yesterday.

The 22 officers are being prosecuted for offences allegedly committed during the on-going war against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-eastern part of the country.

The officers include Brigadier-General J.O Komolafe; 14 colonels-A. Laguda, V. Ebhaleme, V.O. Ita, I.B. Maina, I. A Aboi, I. M Kabir, M.H. Abubakar, A. A. Egbejule, N. N. Orok, C. A. Magaji, A.O. Agwu, A.J.S. Gulani, O.O. Obolo and A.M. Adetuyi; one Major, M.M Idris; five Captains--M Adamu, O. A. Adenaike, M. Gidado, M.M. Clark and S. Raymond and one Second Lieutenant, S.O Olowa.