A Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana has taken up the matter of Brigadier General Enitan Ransome-Kuti that was jailed for six months in Abuja on Thursday for “loss of equipment” during the attack by Boko Haram insurgents in Baga, Borno state, in January this year.
Falana said that an appeal would be lodged against the judgment by the military panel, saying that it was “contradictory” to convict his client of losing equipment but clear him of cowardly behaviour.
“Boko Haram outnumbered his men. They had more superior weapons than the unserviceable equipment of the Nigerian Army” which prompted the withdrawal, Falana added.
Brigadier General Enitan Ransome-Kuti, a nephew of Afrobeat legend, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was convicted at a five-member court martial for, among others, for failure to discharge his duties but was cleared of a third count of “cowardly behavior.”
The attack on Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, saw the town and surrounding villages, overrun and destroyed by hundreds of Boko Haram fighters, including a military base.
Militants were later seen in a propaganda video picking through the armoury at the base, which was used by troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad.
Hundreds of people were said to have been killed in what was seen as the Boko Haram worst atrocity in the six-year insurgency, although there was no exact death toll. [myad]
