Sergeant Akawu Bala of the Nigerian Army was given a death sentence by the General Court Martial of the Nigerian Army, however the Supreme Court has since freed and cleared him of that accusation.
The beleaguered army sergeant received some relief after serving 12 years in Kaduna prison while awaiting the execution of his death sentence.
On March 16, 2017, a five-member Supreme Court bench unanimously ruled against the death penalty in a decision pertaining to an appeal he had filed.
The Nigerian Army accused Sergeant Bala of using an AK-47 to shoot Isa Mohammed on December 9, 2012, when he was stationed at the African Petroleum Station in Sabon Tasha, Kaduna.
According to reports, the shooting victim passed away at Saint Gerald’s Catholic Hospital in Kaduna on December 10, 2012.
After being indicted, he was charged with two counts of murder, which is punishable under Section 106 of the Armed Forces Act 2014, and tried before the General Court Martial. He was found guilty of the crimes and given the death by hanging penalty.
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The Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, upheld his appeal against the death punishment on February 17, 2017, citing the fact that the charge sheet used in his trial and conviction was not signed by a General Commanding Officer, as required by law.
After reading the Court of Appeal’s lead judgement, Justice Obietonbara Daniel Kalo ordered the Sergeant’s trial and conviction to be invalid. However, he declined to release the Sergeant from the invalid trial, so encouraging a further appeal to the Supreme Court.
His principal attorney, Mr. Reuben Okpanachi Atabo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had argued on behalf of the guilty, saying that the Court of Appeal should have issued an order to release the accused from the faulty trial after declaring his client’s trial to be a nullity.
He brought up Section 193 of the Armed Forces Act 2014, which forbids any military personnel from being retried after their trial has been declared void and set aside, to the notice of the highest court.
The Nigerian Army fervently disagreed with the defence appellant’s arguments and implored the supreme court to order the convict’s retrial in the interest of justice through its main attorney, Isaac Udoka.
Judge Helen Morenikeji Ogunwumiju, however, concurred with Atabo in the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case designated SC/889/2017, holding that the Court of Appeal should have released the defendant after nullifying the accused person’s trial.
The convict was then freed by Justice Ogunwumiju, who also explained that the common interpretation of Section 193 of the Armed Forces Act 2014 is that the accused individual is no longer eligible for further prosecution.
After dismissing the Army’s attorney’s arguments, the highest court ordered the convict’s immediate release from Kaduna prison, where he had been detained since 2012.
The other justices on the panel, in addition to Justice Ogunwumiju, were Abubakar Sadiq Umar, Stephen Jonah Ada, Uwani Musa Abba Aji, and Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa.
In his defence, Sergeant Bala stated that he shot Isa Mohammed and another person after they approached him in the dark at the African Petroleum Station. He said that after telling them to back off, he fired at them to avoid being apprehended.
The prisoner stated that because it was the height of Boko Haram activities in Kaduna, he shot the gun at the two men.
