Nigerian Army on Thursday inaugurated an 11-man General Court Martial (GCM) to try another set of 97 officers and soldiers for offences ranging from mutiny, assault, absence without leave (AWOL), house breaking, conduct prejudicial to good orders and service discipline among others.
The accused persons include 15 officers and 82 soldiers respectively.
According to the President of the current GCM, Musa Yusuf, a Brig. Genera:
“Every one of you shall be presumed innocent by the court until it is proved otherwise”.
“Let me further assure you that the GCM will base its decisions and findings only on the facts presented before it.
“In consonance with the desire of this GCM to do justice in this case, we shall take cognisance of the postulations of Oputa Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC) that justice is a 3-way traffic.
“That is justice for the accused persons, justice for the victim and justice for the state.
“We intend to patiently and painstakingly listen to all evidence that will be brought before this court to ensure that no innocent person is convicted as it is better for nine guilty persons to go free than for one innocent person to suffer,”
“I wish to appeal to both prosecution and defence counsel to prepare their cases in earnest in order to assist the accused persons and this GCM in ensuring un-delayed justice,” he stated.
Earlier, counsel to 68 of the accused persons, Femi Falana, said he has no cause to doubt the integrity of the members of the GCM:
“I have taken part in a number of courts of this nature and even when we lost we had to go on appeal and we succeeded, so there is no cause for alarm.
“The president of the court has assured the accused persons that justice will be done.
“We have to consult with our clients and take the appropriate decision.
“We don’t have the charge sheet, the convening order, we don’t have the summary of the evidence against our clients and the law says all accused persons are entitled to the materials for their own defence and the court appreciated that, hence an order has been made that all necessary documents be made available to the accused persons so that the trial can commence in earnest,” he stated.
Other members of the GCM include Col. U.I. Mohammed, Col M.L. Ibrahim, Col R. Abubakar, Col M.M. Bunza, Col. J.D. Gontor, Col. K.N. Garba, Col. B.R. Abimiku and Col G.A. Ugwueze.
Two members are in the waiting list while the judge advocate is Lt. Col. U. Ukpe.
The prosecuting officers are Capt J.A. Orumor and Capt R.S. Agwai respectively.
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