Court Martial finds Gen. Otiki guilty of missing money, says he should be dismissed with ‘disgrace and dishonour’

The former General Officer Commanding 8 division, Sokoto, Maj. General Hakeem Otiki has been found guilty by the General Court Martial set up by the Nigerian Army to try him.

The GMC headed by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army, Lt. Gen. Lamidi Adeosun found Otiki guilty on all five counts levelled against him.

The counts bordered on disobedience to service orders, missing funds and theft of public property, among others.

Adeosun held that Otiki should be dismissed from service “with disgrace and dishonour.”

He was also demoted to Brig. General with a severe reprimand.

Adeosun further ordered that all monies totalling N135.8 million, $6,600 recovered by the Special Investigation Bureau be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army.

He ordered that another N150 million stolen money which could not be accounted for be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army also.

Meanwhile, Adeosun at the Monday night sentencing, noted that all the sentences were subject to approval and confirmation by the Army Council.

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Earlier in his final submission, the lead counsel for Major General Otiki, Barr. Israel Olorundare SAN, pleaded for clemency and urged the General Court Martial to temper justice with mercy saying it should not use a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

He reminded the court that General Otiki in all his years in the Army leading to this point, was a very loyal officer, a disciplined officer and well mannered and a good manager of resources which was attested to by Col Nuhu Mohammed, Deputy Director, Records in the office of the Military Secretary, Army, who read his resume.

Aside from this, the senior advocate reminded the court that General Otiki was the officer who facilitated and obtained the NNPC licence for the Nigerian Army and assisted greatly in helping to tackle criminality in Lagos area during his time in Operation Mesa.

On the various counts, the Senior Advocate said, in Count1, the accused senior officer returned the sum of N100 million to the authorities which was stolen by the soldiers detailed to escort the money to Kaduna.

On Count 2, he said it was proved that some of the projects for which the sum of N150 million was released to the accused senior officer were either completed or are ongoing and workers are still on site.

Moreso, he urged the court to consider that the accused senior officer who is very sick, is also due for retirement this year. His wife has cancer and his mother died on the same July 2019 that soldiers taking the money to Kaduna robbed the money.

He equally reminded the court that Gen Otiki is the breadwinner of his family lamenting that, “a career built for 45 years is coming to an end on a very sad note.

Speaking after the court pronouncements and sentences, Olorundare said the defence would make a representation to the appropriate convening authority to note that General Otiki is not the one that robbed the money and he was the one who reported the incident.

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“Aside this, he still sourced for the Money and returned it to the authorities. So there is really need to take another look at the judgment.

Five soldiers of Operation Harbin Kunama III, under the command of Otiki, absconded with N400 million while escorting it from Sokoko on July 11, 2019, en route Abuja.

Otiki was eventually found guilty of the fraud on Monday.

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