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HomeNewsDemoted Army General Set To Challenge Court Martial’s Verdict

Demoted Army General Set To Challenge Court Martial’s Verdict

A Major General in the Nigerian army, Patrick Adebayo Falola, who was demoted to the rank of Brigadier-General by a military court martial, has vowed to appeal the verdict.

A Special Court Martial found him guilty of unlawfully admitting students for clinical training without due clearance from army headquarters.

However, He was discharged and acquitted of a second count of fraudulent misapplication of the hospital’s property.

Falola was Director, 68 Army Reference Hospital, Yaba, Lagos. His demotion last Friday is subject to the approval of the Nigerian Army Council.

His lawyer, Enokela Onyilo-Uloko, a retired Wing Commander, said his client was unjustly convicted.

He said it was an attempt to tarnish Falola’s outstanding records as a distinguished medical officer.

According to Onyilo-Uloko, there was no explicit law forbidding the act for which his client was convicted.

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“There is no law or instruction put on the ground by the Armed Forces that a senior officer needs to take permission from a higher authority before allowing such training of Nigerian citizens.

“No such law or instruction was tendered in evidence, but they are saying that he should have used his initiative.

“When there is no law criminalising an act, when that act is done, it does not amount to criminal offence,” Onyilo-Uloko said.

According to him, the army’s records show that Falola was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1982, adding that the senior consultant ophthalmologist chaired the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (Lagos State Chapter) and during the time he represented the military without blemish.

He said his client has commanded several other military hospitals, such as the Military Hospital, Lagos, 3 Division Hospital Jos and the Armed Forces Specialist Hospital Kano, all of which he significantly upgraded.

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