Falana Urges Military Court to Review General’s Conviction

A Lagos based fiery lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana has insisted that there should be a review of the case of the convicted Brigadier-General, Enitan Ransome-Kuti who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and subsequent dismissal from the army by a Special Court Martial in October, 2015. The senior lawyer in his letter addressed to the Minister of Defence argued that the General’s conviction and subsequent sentence remain fundamentally wrong, unjust, and illogical. It would be recalled that the 51-year old senior officer had appeared before a Special Court Martial to answer questions to a three-count charge of cowardly behaviour, failure to perform military duties, and miscellaneous offences relating to military property. However, count 1 which touches on cowardly behaviour was thrown out by the military court, just as it found General Ransome-Kuti guilty of the other two counts. He was dismissed from the army and given six months’ imprisonment based on the other two counts. However, Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said in a letter dated December 7, 2015 that, “The discharge and acquittal of our client on the charge of cowardly behaviour, which was the tripod on which the charge of failure to perform military duty and miscellaneous offences relating to property rested, ought to have brought the whole trial to an end,” “This is because it was the dislodgement of MNJTF from Baga that brought the two charges of failure to perform military duty and miscellaneous offences relating to property to life. “It is therefore our contention that the court having ruled that the withdrawal from Baga was legally justified, ought to have discharged and acquitted our client on the remaining charges as well. “The obvious fact is that if troops had not withdrawn from Baga, no service properties would have been abandoned and the allegation of failure to perform military duty by failing to coordinate troops and assets of HQ MNJTF to repel the Boko Haram terrorists attack on HQ MNJTF would not have arisen.”