A Special Court-Martial in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced three Nigerian soldiers to life imprisonment and a fourth to 15 years for illegally selling arms in collaboration with police officers and criminal groups.
The trial, presided over by Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu and led by Court President Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, found Sergeant Raphael Ameh, Sergeant Ejiga Musa, and Lance Corporal Patrick Ocheje guilty of theft, unlawful ammunition dealings, and aiding the enemy. Corporal Omitoye Rufus received a 15-year jail term.
Investigations revealed that Sergeant Ameh, formerly an armourer with the 7 Division Garrison, conspired to steal ammunition from the division’s armoury, hiding them in bags of beans and smuggling them to Enugu and Ebonyi States.
Bank records linked him to over 100 suspicious transactions. Sergeant Musa, the 195 Battalion’s armourer, sold weapons with Ocheje and police collaborators, receiving over ₦500,000 before arrest. Ocheje was also convicted of diverting ammunition and stealing a colleague’s AK-47, while Rufus sold 40 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to a police officer.
The court ruled their actions endangered military operations and national security.
