By our reporter|Hakeem Otiki, a major-general and former general officer commanding (GOC), was on Monday found guilty for stealing N400m by the Nigerian army court-martial.
The court martial at its resumed sitting at the army headquarters garrison in Abuja found him guilty on all the five-count charges against him and subsequently dismissed him from service “with disgrace and dishonour”.
A part of his sentence include a reduction of his rank to brigadier general with two years seniority on count three and severe reprimand on count four.
The panel also ordered that various sums of money, including $6,600, said to have been recovered from him be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian army.
The sentence of the court martial, headed by Lamidi Adeosun, a lieutenant-general, is subject to approval by the army council.
Okiti was charged under the armed forces act (AFA) after soldiers in his detail reportedly stole money estimated to be N400 million.
He was the general officer commanding of the Nigerian army 8 division in Sokoto who sent some soldiers to transport some cash to Kaduna by road from where it would be taken to Abuja but the soldiers plotted to steal the money during a stop in Kaduna and subsequently deserted the army.
Otiki was then arrested after the theft and placed under house arrest until his trial by the court-martial.
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