A
military tribunal sitting in Maiduguri, Borno state, Tuesday sentenced a staff
sergeant in the Nigeria Army to three years behind bars for causing permanent
disability of a ten-year-old boy.
The convict, Umar Sule,
who has served 26 years in the army, was also stripped of all ranks and demoted
to a private by the tribunal presided over by Olusegun Adeniyi, a
brigadier-general.
Mr. Sule, according the
charge sheet presented to the military court martial, inflicted a permanent
injury on Muhammed Sale by tying him up for stealing his N2000.
The tall and heavily
built demoted officer admitted before the court martial that he tied the two
hands of the boy to a poll for over seven hours.
Due to the torture,
Sale’s two wrists suffered gangrene. The condition is a premature death of cell
caused by lack of blood flow.
Doctors later had
Sale’s jaundiced right hand amputated. The other, though paralyzed, was
partially salvaged by grafting of skin from the victim’s lap to patch it up.
The National Human
Right Commission took up the matter by petitioning the Nigerian Army on the
conduct of the soldier.
The Army responded by
arraigning Mr. Sule before the court martial, which was set up on August 11 to
try miscellaneous offences under the military’s Operation Lafiya Dole.
The court found the accused soldier guilty of two charges of
“unlawful assault, and disobedience of standing order of the Nigerian armed
forces by entertaining a minor at his guard location”.
The
representative of the NHRC at the trial commended the Nigeria Army for ensuring
that the victim got justice via a transparent trial.
She said the NHRC
office would help the victim “who now has to live with permanent disability for
the rest of his life” to pursue compensation through the civil court.
The
victim’s mother, Amina Usman, said her son now depended on her to feed, bathe
and even clean up after using the toilet.
The tribunal adjourned
to October 20, when it will continue the trial of other senior officers of the
Nigerian Army charged with diversion and sale of arms and ammunition.
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