Three Nigerian Navy men dismissed for stealing equipment at jetty they were supposed to be guarding

THREE Nigerian Navy soldiers have been dismissed after being found guilty of theft when a court martial ruled that they stole equipment stored at the Mieka Jetty in Warri belonging to Niger Delta militant Government Ekpemupolo while they were on guard duty.

Arrested in June, the three troops Petty Officer Ekong Samuel, Leading Seaman Elijah Sagwada and Seaman Usman Shuaibu, were found guilty after the recent hearing in Warri. They have now been handed over to the authorities of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Okere, Warri, to continue a five-month jail term handed down to them by the Navy Court Martial which tried their matter.

Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, the commander at the base of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta in Warri, assured the public that the Nigerian Navy would not condone acts of indiscipline, neither protect any of its personnel found wanting, be they an officer or rating. He explained that the dismissal and sentencing of the erring personnel was done in accordance to standard navy rules, as they were not summarily tried, were given a fair hearing, allowed to come with their counsels and were only dismissed and sentenced after the court martial had been satisfied that they were guilty.

 “Sometime in June, some of our personnel that were to Mieka Jetty, keeping duty, were caught stealing some of the equipment in that jetty. When the report was made to the base and they were arrested, both them and the civilians that were involved.

“A thorough investigation was carried out and a court martial was recommended after the investigation and these three personnel from NNS Delta were court martialed. What you see this morning is the sentence that was given after the court martial, we are carrying out the naval procedure for a dismissal and we are going to send them to prison after the dismissal," Commodore Dewu said.

He added that they were dismissed first, after which they were de-kitted and now they are going to serve five months jail term in prison. According to Commodore Dewu, the Nigerian Navy never has and will never condone any case of indiscipline, especially issues that will bring disrepute to the service.