Hakeem Otiki, a major-general
standing trial over the alleged theft of millions of naira, has asked Lamidi
Adeosun, a lieutenant-general, not to preside over the case.
Five soldiers were declared
wanted by the Nigerian army after they absconded with a large amount of cash
allegedly on the orders of Otiki who was the general officer commanding of the
army’s 8 division in Sokoto.
At the opening of a court-martial
at the army officers’ mess, Asokoro in Abuja on Tuesday, Adeosun, appointed to
preside, was met with objection from the defence of Otiki who claimed the
soldiers, who are still at large, were Adeosun’s aides.
Journalists were reportedly
barred from covering the proceedings, but Daily Trust reported that Femi
Oyebanjo, a retired major and counsel to Otiki, argued that there has been an
unending grudge between the two generals and in the interest of justice,
Adeosun should recuse himself as the presiding officer.
“We have it on good authority
that you bear grudge against our client. We have this deep feeling that he may
not get a fair trial under your leadership,” he said.
“The reasons are as follows: it
is a known fact that general Otiki got into Nigerian Defence Academy on 10th
January 1983 while you got in on 4th
July 1983. He got in there before you. It is a fact that General Otiki actually
pitied you, established and trained you.
“We have this feeling that that
grudge is still there. More so that general Otiki took over from you as the
corp commander, infantry. We still believe that because this grudge has been
there since then and because of this grudge, when you were promoted, lt.
general, he sent you a text message to congratulate you but you did not
respond.
“In addition to that sir, it is a
fact that by the time we go into this trial proper, certain issues will
certainly come up and these are issues that affect your office as chief of
operations, Nigerian army which you left before you got to where you are
presently. What am I staying sir, it is a fact, sir, that general Otiki as the
GOC commanding 8 Division of the Nigerian army conducted operation Sharan Daji.
He also conducted operation Harbin Kunama III.”
Oyebanjo said these were offices
directly under Adeosun’s command as chief of operation, adding that the
operations listed were going to come up in the course of the trial.
Arguing that Adeosun is an
interested party, he said, “Finally sir, it is also a known fact, that as at the time general Otiki took over
from you as the corp commander infantry brigade, he inherited your security
personnel, your soldiers that formed the inner security of general Otiki.
“These are the same personnel
that formed the reasons why we are here. They are actually your soldiers, your
personal aides; the soldiers he took over from you, these soldiers are the
basis why we are here today. My lord, we say on the basis of all these, you are
going to be part and parcel of this trial, we are going to to be talking and
referring to you.
“If you are going to do this job,
there is no way you are not going to feature prominently. There is no way we
will not talk about those soldiers, they were your aides, there is no way we
will not talk about operations.”
There were also speculations that
the rift between the two generals was over who would succeed Tukur Buratai as
chief of army staff.
Buhari had in July promoted
Adeosun to the rank of lieutenant-general — same rank as Buratai, placing him
in good stead to become the next army’s chief.
It was not immediately clear how
the proceeding went. Sagir Musa, army’s spokesman, did not respond to inquiry
over the court-martial.
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