A Special Court-Martial of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced three soldiers to life imprisonment and a fourth to 15 years for illegally selling weapons in collaboration with police officers and terrorist groups.
The trial, presided over by Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu, Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division and Commander of Sector 1, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), took place at the Officers’ Mess of the Theatre Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.
Delivering the judgement, Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, President of the Court-Martial, found Sergeant Raphael Ameh, Sergeant Ejiga Musa, and Lance Corporal Patrick Ocheje guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Corporal Omitoye Rufus received a 15-year sentence.
The soldiers were convicted of multiple offences, including theft, unlawful dealing in ammunition, and aiding the enemy — all punishable under the Armed Forces Act.
Sergeant Raphael Ameh, an armourer at the 7 Division Garrison, was found guilty of conspiring with a deceased colleague to steal ammunition from the division’s armoury. He collaborated with police officers to conceal weapons in bags of beans and smuggle them to Enugu and Ebonyi States, where they were supplied to criminals. Bank records linked him to over 100 suspicious transactions between July 2022 and June 2024.
Sergeant Musa, armourer of the 195 Battalion, conspired with Lance Corporal Ocheje and several police officers to sell an AK-47 rifle and large quantities of ammunition. Financial records showed Musa received more than ₦500,000 from these deals before his arrest while attempting to sell additional rounds.
Corporal Rufus was convicted of selling 40 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition to a police officer.
Lance Corporal Ocheje, deployed at the forward operating base in Molai, diverted ammunition during communal clashes on the instructions of a police officer and stole an AK-47 rifle belonging to a fellow soldier.
The court ruled that their actions posed a direct threat to military operations and national security, constituting a clear case of aiding the enemy.
Condemning the convicts, Brigadier General Abdullahi described them as “bad eggs” who betrayed the trust, discipline, and honour expected of soldiers engaged in counter-insurgency operations. He reaffirmed the Nigerian Army’s zero-tolerance policy on the sale of arms and ammunition to adversaries, stressing that it would not be tolerated “in any form or guise.”