The Nigerian Army has inaugurated special and General Court Martial to prosecute sixty eight (68) personnel over different rate of offences in Sokoto state, North-West Nigeria.
The General Officer Commanding 8 Division Nigerian Army and Commander Join Task Force Operation Hadarin Daji, Major General Godwin Mutkut who inaugurated the special and general court said they were inaugurated to ensure that truth prevail between institution and the victims.
General Mutkut urged the newly inaugurated court to evaluates all evidences before them and to be in line with the principles of fair in deciding all cases base on merits.
“The reason why this court Martial were inaugurated today was due to exigencies of postings and promotion of members of previous court-martial.
“So due process has to be done and we are here to inaugurates new court-martial.
“This court like any other court of the land are established to administer justice not only to the victims of any allege offences, but to the institution, the state and even accused person standing for trial,” General Mutkut said.
The GOC further reminded members of the court that it is always better for 99 accused persons to go free than for one innocent victims to be convicted for an offence he or she did not commits.
“The court should always be mindful of the fact that the accused personnel are still members of the Nigerian Army and as service men, they still remain comrade with arms.
“They should be treated with all level of decorum and fairness,” he urged.
He assured the accused personnel that the court would be guided through out the trial under the principal of natural justice, equity and fair hearing as enshrined in the Constitution of the country.
General Mutkut appealed to prosecuting and defence counsel to avoid unnecessary seeking of adjournment that lead to unnecessary delays, “as often says Justice delayed is Justice denied.”
In his remarks, the Head of Defence Counsel, Barrister Godwin Uwadiae, advised president of the court to ensure rule of law is observed during the prosecution.
He further called for administrative bails of the accused where the accused will be posted instead of detaining them especially those whose case are not related with death penalties.
Barrister Uwadiae assured the victims that the court would ensure speedy dispensation of Justice during the process.
The newly inaugurated Special and General Courts Martial have their Presidents as Brigadier General Clement Iyere and Colonel Bashir Yusuf respectively.
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