Army boss orders maximum punishment for officers - Over sale of weapons to militants

Chris Agbambu, Abuja - 18.01.2008

THE Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Luka Yusuf, has ordered “maximum punishment” for the 15 officers being court-martialled for allegedly selling weapons to Niger Delta militants if they are found guilty.

Informed military sources disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that the army chief was still pained that soldiers were killed by the militants with the weapons that were sold to them by some of his officers.

Yusuf, who discovered that thousands of AK-47 and general purpose machine guns (GPMGS) and hundred of boxes of ammunition were missing from the Army Central Armoury, Kaduna, vowed that “maximum punishment” would be visited on the officers who committed the atrocity.

The army chief’s decision to severely punish those found guilty came against the background of appeals by relations and many influential personalities, including traditional rulers, governors and politicians, that he should be lenient with the accused officers.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that General Yusuf became even more enraged over the matter when he visited the central ammunition depot in Kaduna and discovered that weapons were removed with reckless abandon, as there was no proper supervision of the men being tried by their superiors.

Meanwhile, President Umaru Yar’Adua has ordered a full investigation into the matter. It was gathered that the agents of the groups in the Niger Delta had struck several arms deals with the officers in the ordinance depot in Kaduna.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the court martial, headed by a Major General, had been given time limit to conclude the trial.