A Special Court-Martial of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced three soldiers to life imprisonment and a fourth to 15 years for illegally selling arms in collaboration with police officers and terrorist groups.
The trial was presided over by Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu, the Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division and Commander of Sector 1, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK). It was held at the Officers’ Mess of the Theatre Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.
Delivering the judgment, Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, President of the Court-Martial, found Sergeant Raphael Ameh, Sergeant Ejiga Musa, and Lance Corporal Patrick Ocheje guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Corporal Omitoye Rufus, however, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The soldiers were convicted of multiple offences, including theft, unlawful dealing in ammunition, and aiding the enemy, all punishable under the Armed Forces Act.
Sergeant Raphael Ameh, who served as an armourer at the 7 Division Garrison, was found guilty of conspiring with a deceased colleague to steal ammunition from the division’s armoury.
He reportedly collaborated with police officers to conceal the weapons in bags of beans and smuggle them to Enugu and Ebonyi States, where they were supplied to criminals.
Brigadier General Abdullahi revealed that bank records linked Sergeant Ameh to over 100 suspicious transactions between July 2022 and June 2024.
Sergeant Musa, who served as the armourer of the 195 Battalion, was found to have conspired with Lance Corporal Ocheje and several police officers to sell an AK-47 rifle and large quantities of ammunition. Financial records indicated that Musa received over ₦500,000 from these transactions before he was arrested while attempting to sell additional rounds.
Corporal Rufus was convicted of selling 40 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition to a police officer.
Meanwhile, Lance Corporal Ocheje, deployed at the forward operating base in Molai, was found guilty of diverting ammunition during communal clashes, acting on the instructions of a police officer. He also stole an AK-47 rifle belonging to a fellow soldier.
The court ruled that their actions posed a direct threat to military operations and national security, constituting a clear case of aiding the enemy.
In his condemnation of the convicts, Brigadier General Abdullahi described them as “bad eggs” who had betrayed the trust, discipline, and honour expected of soldiers engaged in the fight against insurgency. He reaffirmed the Nigerian Army’s zero-tolerance policy on the sale of arms and ammunition to adversaries, stating it would not be tolerated “in whatever form or guise.”
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