Three officers and 13 other soldiers had received a sentence of two years imprisonment each by a Nigerian Military Court Martial which sat in Kaduna state on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 for failure to perform during the abduction of more than 200 school girls from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14, 2014.
The GCM panel organized by the General Officer Commanding I Division, Kaduna,Maj.Gen. K. C. Osuji, concluded that the prosecution was able to prove the case against the soldiers.
The panel was made up of Brig. Gen. Ogunlade (President); Col. J. O. Sokoya, Col. M. Kadiri, Col. M. W. Abubakar, Col. A. A. Bamgbose, Col. A. Garba and Col E.M . Albara.
Contrarily, the Defence counsel to Col. Ojo, Mr. Shuaibu Isah, opined that they were not satisfied with the judgement.
He said, “We are not satisfied with the judgment of the court. We intend to file an appeal against this verdict before the confirming authorities…”
A witness at the said that Ojo was convicted on two counts of failing to reinforce Chibok when it came under Boko Haram attack on April 14 and for allegedly releasing information without verification to the Army authorities.
The source added that the “unverified information” caused the Defence Headquarters to issue a false’ statement on the release of the kidnapped school girls.
The source added that Ojo, who was said to have resumed duty the day before the attack, had responded to the charge of failing to reinforce Chibok by explaining that he got the information on the Chibok attack at his location in Biu by 1am.
On the charge that he gave unverified information to the Army authorities, the officer said he never gave any figure on the “rescued or abducted girls.”
