21 January 2008
Lagos — COURT martial of 15 soldiers, among them three colonels, two lieutenant colonels, one major and nine non-commissioned officers may just reveal a tip of the ease with which arms get into unauthorised through official sources. It is a matter for a larger enquiry than the confines of a military trial.
There are civil or non-military components of these matters that are often discarded as if we are still under military rule. Seven years ago, the Auditor-General of the Federation Charles Azie, authored a report about missing ammunition from military and police formations in different parts of the country. The substance of the report was lost in controversy over the claims that Azie should not have made the report public. His career withered with that effort.
From the Nigerian Army Central Ordinance Depot, Kaduna, the latest discoveries are that some officers allegedly sold arms to militants in the Niger Delta. One of the suspects reportedly confessed that serving and retired top military officers were involved in the shady deal of arming disgruntled elements in the Niger-Delta. Thousands of Ak-47 rifles, General Purpose Machine Guns, GPMGs, and boxes of ammunition/grenades were discovered missing from the armoury.
It is difficult to believe that an illegal operation that involves the sale of this huge cache of ammunition could be executed without the involvement of higher ranked officers in the military. If this is the situation, it means that controls are weaker than they are thought to be.
Who superintends these officers? Where were they when they committed the alleged offences? How was it possible to move this size of arms out of one location without it being noticed? What type of inventory system do the armed forces run under which 15 people can make away with this volume of arms?
Again, if this happened in the Army, chances are that the Navy, which has a more telling presence in the operations in the Niger Delta, may have some of its own personnel answering questions about arms and ammunitions. The same goes for the police and other security agencies.
The illegal and criminal activities of these saboteurs and collaborators have put the nation to anguish. It is therefore important that a thorough investigation, by a public enquiry is carried out to determine how arms get into the country and how they are used.Lt-Gen Yüsuf Luke, Chief of Army Staff, has done well by ordering an investigation into the matter, but the National Assembly should conduct its own investigations.
A starting point may be the various reports of the Auditor General of the Federation on the loss of arms by the various security agencies. The discovery may be more startling than the issue at hand. The matter is of great public interest and deserves open treatment.
Some of those involved are the militants, who are civilians. Will they too undergo court martial if arrested? This case should be treated as the criminal offence it is, with the suspects charged to court after investigations.
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