Army major jailed for life over arms sale to Niger Delta militants granted clemency

Suleiman Alabi Akubo, a major in the Nigerian Army who wassentenced to life imprisonment for selling more than 7,000 stolen militaryweapons to Niger Delta militants, has been granted clemency by President BolaTinubu. Akubo, 62, was among the 175 persons who recently received apresidential pardon and other forms of clemency following the approval of thenational council of state. Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president oninformation and strategy, said in a statement on Saturday that Tinubu commutedAkubo’s life sentence to 20 years’ imprisonment “following good conduct andremorsefulness”. In 2007, Akubo and other senior soldiers were accused ofselling military weapons at the depots of the Nigerian Army located at theCommand and Staff College, Jaji, and the One Base Ordnance, Kaduna. The military weapons were said to have been sold to theMovement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group. The weapons included assault rifles, submachine guns androcket-propelled grenades. In November 2008, a military court in Kaduna sentenced Akuboand five other soldiers to life imprisonment for selling military weapons thatwere stolen between January 2000 and December 2006 to militants. Bala Usara, the military judge, had said that the buyers ofthe stolen weapons include Sunny Okah, brother of Henry Okah, the leader ofMEND. The stolen weapons were valued at N100 million at the timeof the theft. In July 2016, MEND said the federal government has agreed toreview Akubo’s and five others’ life sentences under the presidential amnestyprogramme (PAP).

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