The Nigerian Army has sacked Aliyu Momoh, a Brigadier General, who
allegedly supervised the rigging of the 2014 governorship election in
Ekiti State.
The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, told news
website, Sahara Reporters, in Washington DC, United States, during the
just-concluded Nuclear Security Summit, that Mr Momoh’s career in the
military had been terminated after the report of a military panel that
investigated the unprofessional conduct of officers and soldiers during
the elections in Ekiti and Osun State indicted him alongside other
soldiers.
The board of inquiry, chaired by Adeniyi Oyebade, a Major
General, made “far-reaching recommendations” meant to assist the army in
future involvement in civil elections.
In arriving at the recommendations, the board spoke to 62 officers, over 100 soldiers and 62 civilians.
According to the statement, the board recommended the compulsory retirement of two officers from the army.
It
also recommended that three officers should lose their commands and
another recommended prosecution for collecting financial gratification.
The
board further recommended the placing of 15 officers on watch list
while nine others were to be handed over to the Economic and Financial
Crime Commission for further investigations following allegations of
corruption against them.
Six officers are to face an audit
committee and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Majors-below) were to
be given letters of displeasure and to appear before their respective
General Officers Commanding for counselling, the board also advised.
The
panel was set up following the release of a video recording by Sagir
Koli, a Captain from its Intelligence Corps, showing actions by his
commanding officer (Mr Momoh) and top officials of the Goodluck Jonathan
administration to rig the June 21, 2014 election in Ekiti State.
The
video recording revealed the connivance between Mr. Koli’s commanding
officer, Aliyu Momoh, a General, and former Minister of State for
Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili
Adesiyan, Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, chieftains of the
Peoples Democratic Party: Andy Uba and Iyiola Omisore, to rig the 2014
election in Ekiti State.
Mr. Koli was forced into hiding after he was tipped off of a plan by the army to arrest him.
His younger brother, a 15-year old secondary school pupil was however arrested, detained and tortured by the army.
Former
President Goodluck Jonathan refused to investigate the video, saying
Mr. Koli refused to come out of hiding to authenticate the recording.
The army also confirmed that Mr Momoh has been retired.
Sani
Usman, the spokesperson of the army told the Punch newspaper that :
“General Momoh and others have been retired from the Army”.
The newspaper said Mr Usman, a colonel, did not give further details.
According
to the Punch, another senior officer also retired following the
recommendation of the panel was the former spokesperson of the army,
Olajide Laleye, a Brigadier-General.
It is believed that
Mr Laleye was sacked following his role in the controversy surrounding
the school leaving certificate of President Muhammadu Buhari, the
candidate of the then opposition All Progressives Congress in the lead
up to the 2015 election.
The then ruling party had accused Mr Buhari,
a retired Major General, of not having a secondary school leaving
certificate – the basic academic qualification for candidates vying to
be President.
Mr Laleye held a press conference at the time where he
stated that the Army could not find the Mr. Buhari’s West African School
Certificate Examination result.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
EmoticonEmoticon