A Lieutenant Colonel, a Captain, a Second Lieutenant and 12 other soldiers were sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Nigerian Military Court Martial which sat in Kaduna state yesterday December 23 over the abduction of over 200 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14.
According to Punch, the soldiers, Lt. Col. A. O. Ojo who was in charge of Chibok when the abduction took place, Capt. O. O. Ogunrinde, and 2nd Lieutenant V.I. Godknows were all handed two years imprisonment for what the General Court Martial panel termed failure to perform. Col. Ojo was reportedly found guilty of passing out unverified information about the return of the abducted girls as well as not reinforcing the military personnel the night the abduction happened. In his response, Lt. Col. Ojo said he got information about the attack at about 1am at his station in Biu which was already late as the sect members stormed the school at about 11pm.
2nd Lieut. Godknows was charged with cowardly behaviour during the night of the attack. Counsel to Lt Col. Ojo, Mr. Shuaibu Isah has however said his client would be appealing the verdict of the court martial through the office of the confirming authority which is the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah
Credit: Punch, LIB