The General Court Marital (GCM) has sentenced embattled Nigeria Air Force (NAF) personnel, MWO Oyebanji, to 21 years imprisonment, and has reduced the rank of three other NAF personnel for misappropriation of funds.

The Four NAF personnel are members of the 151 Base Services Group (151 BSG) multipurpose Cooperative Society, Makurdi.

They were arraigned on Thursday, September 24th, 2020, for mismanaging cooperative funds of over N41, 000,000.00.

The other three NAF personnel arraigned include Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Sherifi Olawoore, Flying Officer (Fg Offr) Ademola Adekoya, and Warrant Officer (WO) Paul Atteh.

Air Commodore Nazib Aliyu, President of the General Court Marital (GCM), declared the four personnel guilty of various charges and sentenced them based on their levels of involvement in the crime.

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MWL Micheal Oyebanji, the Cooperative's Vice President was tried on a 46 count charge including; Criminal Breach of Trust, Theft, Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Misappropriation, Making of False Documents and Conduct to the Prejudice of Service Discipline, contrary to Sections 114 and 103 (d) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Sections 312, 287, 96 and 309 of the Penal Code Cap P3 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Air Commodore Nazib Aliyu found the Vice President of the Cooperative guilty and sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment.

He also demoted his rank to Corporal and ordered him to return all funds stolen and misappropriated.

Master Warrant Officer Michael Oyebanji has been in detention for over a year after he was mismanagement of funds that was credited to a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) under the aegis of the Movement for Social Justice and Care (MSJC).

The NAF has denied from the MSJC that it was plotting to murder Oyebanji and has said it was not detaining Oyebanji illegally under the guise of the Special Court Martial.

Michael Oyebanji's family in a statement on September 14, 2020, signed by the head of the family, Alhaji Oyebanji, sought the assistance of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others to come to the aid of the innocent officer for a crime he did not commit.

According to the Family head, they have received credible information regarding plot by top officals in the NAF to undermine justice in the case of their son who they claimed has had a good defence while going through the court martial.

WO Paul Atteh, who was tried for negligence of duty as the Cooperative's Treasurer, as well as falsifying documents and Criminal Breach of Trust, was found guilty of all three charges.

His rank was demoted to Corporal and was asked to pay a fine of N1,000,000.00.

Flt Lt Olawoore was charged for negligence of duty as President of the Cooperative and was awarded six months loss of seniority.

Also, FG Offr Adekoya was tried for negligence of duty as the Cooperative's General Secretary but was awarded one year loss of seniority.

The Defence Counsel, who pleaded with the GCM's President to reduce the severity of their punishment, urged the court to show mercy on the accused persons whom he described as first-time offenders. 

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