ALEXANDER BADEH’S TRIAL: AS I SEE IT
188 viewsAir Chief Marshal Alexander Badeh (retd) was the Chief of Defence Staff under the regime of immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan. He was saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting the war against Boko Haram insurgency. His command was a disaster and his service or disservice to the nation was, to the say the least, inglorious.
On assumption of office, President Muhammadu Buhari retired him along with his peers with full honours, not knowing the extent of the sleaze he presided over. In an interview granted shortly after his retirement, Badeh declared that he headed a military that the government more or less refused to equip. No one knew the amount of money put in his care at the time. And now he is being tried at a federal high court Abuja, for looting and diverting to personal use the billions of Naira voted for the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram.
Last week the court granted him a N2 billion bail. In other words, the court meant that Alexander Badeh should attend his trials from the comfort of his home. As I write however, he is still being held at Kuje Prisons, Abuja, as he is yet to fulfil his bail conditions.
At the risk of sounding hollow, I must confess that sometimes I have issues with this so-called rule of law. Is this not the same Badeh who along with Dasuki and others looted the billions meant for purchase of arms to prosecute the war on Boko Haram insurgency?
Is this not the same Badeh who ordered soldiers, through his commanders, to the Boko Haram war front without adequate arms and munitions? And when some of the soldiers questioned and refused the order, he had them court-marshalled and sentenced to death?
But for Providence which brought a Muhammadu Buhari to power, those innocent soldiers would have been dead by now – killed by the state for daring to demand that they be adequately equipped to perform their constitutional responsibility of defending the state against aggression.
This is the Badeh whose home town was sacked and captured by Boko Haram because his soldiers could not defend it for lack of arms – arms that Badeh was given money to purchase.
This is the same Badeh who as Chief of Defence Staff was living in obscene splendour while his soldiers lived in squalor. Again it took President Buhari to order him to relocate to the theatre of war and command his troops from there instead of from Abuja. The same Badeh who was insubordinate to the then Minister of Defense, Lt. General Aliyu Gusau (retd) – a man appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Alexander Badeh it was who bought, with looted funds, a house for his son for the sum of N330 million for him to live in comfort while he sent sons of other men to go and live in trenches and die. There are so many other malfeasances committed by Badeh but let us leave them for another day.
Suffice to say that while he committed all these atrocities, Badeh never observed the rule of law. He observed neither military nor civil regulations and procedure for doing things under the circumstances. So, I cannot understand the basis upon which he should now be tried in a civil court and bail granted to him.
He was a military officer; he committed his offenses while still in the service. As a military officer he disobeyed the orders of his Commander-in-chief – the same offense allegedly committed by the poor soldiers he had court-marshalled and given the death penalty.
Refusing to use the money put in his care by his commander-in-chief for purposes of national security is an offense deserving of a court-marshal. That he diverted that money to personal use, thus precipitating and facilitating the killing of hundreds of soldiers and tens of thousands of defenceless Nigerians, is deserving of a death penalty. He did this while he was a military officer subject to military law. He was effectively guilty of the following offenses:
a) Subverting the war effort – which technically meant he was an enemy of the state and an ally of Boko Haram insurgents. This is nothing but treason
b) Theft and/or diversion of military funds
c) Crime against humanity insofar as his offense aided Boko Haram in mass murder
d) Disobeying the order of his Commander-in-Chief. This is akin to mutiny, an offense punishable by a court marshal
Since all of these offenses were committed when he was still in the military, and subject to military discipline, I opine that he should have been tried in the military tradition. He should have been court-marshalled and stripped of his rank for ever, and if his benefits have not been paid already, he should forfeit them as well. After all, if it is said that a general of the army is always a general with all the entitlements that title enjoys, then why not make him also face the disciplinary measure that comes with flouting military regulations?
Alexander Badeh should be reverted to the military, court-marshalled instantly and given the death penalty. He is a disgrace to the military profession; he should face the same fate he wanted to visit on the poor souls he had court-marshalled.
This may be an extreme measure, but given that under his command tens of thousands of Nigerians (military and civilian) were dispatched to early grave, plus the capture and sacking of Nigerian territories by Boko Haram simply because Badeh chose to dip his hand in the military till entrusted to his care, I do not think he should be accorded the respect and rights that a civil trial entails.
This is the way I see it