The Senate on Tuesday began
investigation into circumstances surrounding the seizure of Nigeria’s
9.3 million dollars in South Africa.
The Chairman, Senate
Committee on Defence, Sen. George Sekibo, said this in Abuja after a
closed-door meeting with the service chiefs.
The chiefs were led to the
high profile meeting, which lasted for over three hours, by the Chief of
Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.
Sekibo, who said the
committee would get details of the situation, promised to brief the media at
the end of its investigation.
“We are still investigating. We have started the
investigation; when we get through the investigation, we will brief you.
“There were several questions here and there and we are
digging to find out details and facts about what happened. The committee is
satisfied that we are on top of the matter,” he said.
South African Revenue Service
on Sept. 5, seized the amount from two Nigerians and an Israeli at Lanseria
Airport, North-West of Johannesburg.
The money, which is being
held at the Central Bank in South Africa, is being investigated by the South
African Police.
On the 12 soldiers sentenced
to death by a military panel for mutiny, Sekibo said that the senate was not
under pressure to intervene to save the lives of the soldiers.
“No we are not (under pressure) because the Armed
Forces is established by an Act of the National Assembly.
“ The Act spelt out categorically the conduct of
soldiers and the way they are to behave wherever they are.
“If you join the military that Act is to guide you and
your conduct.
“If you go contrary to any of the prescribed sections
of the Act the punishment prescribed for the Act you violated will come on you.
“So the military did not just wake up one day and say
that they are going to kill Mr A or Mr B.
“They (military) went through the necessary processes
and they found them guilty,“ he said.
The committee chairman,
however said that those found guilty could go on appeal and the rulings from
the appeal would be binding on them.
“But I think that those found guilty also have a way
out. They can go on appeal and if the appeal finds them not guilty that will be
it.
“But for what the military has done, they have done the
best thing because you must instil discipline in the Armed Forces.
“If you don’t do so one day all
of us here will be sacked and you will not hear of this place again,“
he said.
Sekibo called on Nigerians to
encourage the military to ensure that it discharged its duties effectively.
NAN recalls that 12 Nigerian
soldiers were on Sept 16, sentenced to death for mutiny after firing shots at
their commanding officer in Maiduguri on May 14.
A nine-member military tribunal,
sitting in Abuja, convicted the soldiers following shots fired at the
Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Army’s 7th Division,
Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Mohammed.
Court president Brig.-Gen.
Chukwuemeka Okonkwo said the sentences were subject to confirmation by Nigeria’s
military authorities but added there was no doubt about the gravity of the
offence.
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