Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted presidential pardon to Major Alabi Akubo, a former Nigerian Army officer convicted for stealing and selling over 7,000 military weapons to terrorists and militants.
Between 2000 and 2006, thousands of rifles, sub-machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and other munitions disappeared from two key military armouries — the Command and Staff College in Jaji and the One Base Ordnance Depot, both located in Kaduna State.
The weapons were stolen in batches over a six-year period without any reported breach or forced entry, raising questions about internal complicity and systemic failure within Nigeria’s military structure.
In 2008, Akubo, who was then a serving major, was arrested alongside five others for stealing and selling the weapons to criminal networks with ties to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
During their court-martial, military judge Bala Usara revealed that the stolen weapons were valued at about ₦100 million (approximately $850,000 at the time).
One of the buyers, Sunny Okah, was identified as a brother to Henry and Charles Okah both of whom have been linked to multiple acts of terrorism, including the 2010 Independence Day car bombing in Abuja that killed 12 people.
Henry Okah was later convicted in South Africa on 13 counts of terrorism and conspiracy to detonate explosives, while his brother Charles was charged in Nigeria for similar offences.
Despite the gravity of his crimes, Akubo and his co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death, as prescribed under the Armed Forces Act (2004), which classifies the offence of “aiding the enemy” including supplying arms or ammunition as punishable by death.
However, human rights lawyer Festus Ogun told FIJ that Akubo’s records have now been completely wiped clean following Tinubu’s presidential pardon granted last Thursday.
“With the pardon, his conviction no longer stands. His criminal record is gone. He has been forgiven,” Ogun said.
Story credit: Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ)
Follow the Parallel Facts channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCQSAoHgZWiDjR3Kn2E
