Ex-Army General Heads to Supreme Court After Appeal Court Upholds Conviction
By Momodu Favour
A former Major General in the Nigerian Army, Umaru Mohammed, has approached the Supreme Court to challenge his conviction for the misappropriation of funds belonging to Nigerian Army Properties Limited after the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed most aspects of the judgment against him.
Mohammed was initially convicted on October 10, 2023, by a Special Court Martial sitting at the Army Headquarters Garrison in Abuja for offences bordering on stealing and criminal misappropriation of company funds.
Following the conviction, the former senior officer was dismissed from the Nigerian Army, sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and ordered to refund $2,099,700 and N1,650,172,000 to the company.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, Mohammed filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal of Nigeria on February 12, 2025, in a suit marked CA/ABJ/CR/383/2025. He argued that the conviction was not supported by credible evidence and also challenged the jurisdiction of the court martial that tried him.
However, in a Certified True Copy of the judgment obtained on Monday, a three-member appellate panel comprising Justices Abba Bello Mohammed, Okon Efreti Abang and Eberechi Suzzette Nyeson-Wike dismissed most of the grounds of appeal.
The panel held that the evidence presented during the court martial sufficiently established the offences for which Mohammed was convicted.
The court also described the defence presented by the former general as inconsistent and unreliable.
Despite affirming the conviction on most counts, the appellate court set aside the conviction related to conspiracy to commit forgery and forgery, ruling that the charges were filed outside the three-year limitation period provided under Section 169(1)(a) of the Armed Forces Act.
The court therefore upheld the conviction and sentence on the remaining counts contained in the amended charge.
Reacting to the ruling, Mohammed maintained that his trial was unfair. In a statement issued on Monday, he disclosed that he had already filed an appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria seeking to overturn aspects of the appellate court’s decision and nullify the judgment of the Special Court Martial.
He also questioned attempts by the Nigerian Army to enforce orders relating to accounts linked to his Bank Verification Number, claiming that the court martial did not issue such directives or any consequential restitution orders.
The Supreme Court is now expected to determine the final outcome of the long-running legal battle involving the former army general.
