Gen. Otiki dismissed "with disgrace and dishonour" by Court Martial.
The General Court Martial set up by the Nigerian Army to try the former General Officer Commanding (GOC), 8 division, Sokoto, Major General Hakeem Otiki, has found him guilty on all five counts.
At its sitting at the Army headquarters garrison in Abuja on Monday night, the Court Martial found him guilty on all the five count charges against him and subsequently dismissed him from service “with disgrace and dishonour”.
The panel also ordered that various sums of money, including $6,600, said to have been recovered from him be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army.
The panel, which delivered the sentence of the Court Martial, headed by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army, Lt. Gen. Lamidi Adeosun was, however, subject to confirmation by the Army Council.
The General Court Martial also demoted him to Brig. General with a several reprimand.
Otiki was the General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian Army, 8 division in Sokoto who sent some soldiers to transport some cash to Kaduna by road, where a military aircraft was said to be waiting in Kaduna, but the soldiers plotted to steal the money during a stop in Kaduna and thereafter, deserted the army.
Earlier in his final submission, the lead counsel for Otiki, Israel Olorundare (SAN), pleaded for clemency and urged the General Court Martial to temper justice with mercy saying, “It should not use a sledgehammer to kill a fly. “
