Nigerian general jailed over Boko Haram attack on Baga

A military court in Nigeria has sentenced a
general to six months in jail for his
involvement in one of the army's worst defeats
by Boko Haram.
Gen Enitan Ransome-Kuti was convicted of
failing in his duties when Islamist militants
attacked the north-eastern town of Baga in
January.
Scores of civilians were killed when Boko
Haram overran the town and seized large
quantities of weapons.
The general's lawyer told the BBC that he will
appeal against the decision.
A separate accusation of cowardice was
dropped.
The general comes from a celebrated Nigerian
family. His uncle was the late Afrobreat legend
Fela Kuti. The exact number of those killed in the Baga
attack remains unknown, but claims vary from
the government's official figure of 150 to up to
2,000 reported by locals.
Gen Ransome-Kuti was also dismissed from
the Nigerian armed forces as part of the court
martial.
He was found guilty for "loss of equipment" in
the attack on the headquarters of Nigeria's
regional task force against Boko Haram.
"Boko Haram outnumbered his men. They had
more superior weapons than the unserviceable
equipment of the Nigerian Army," his lawyer
Femi Falana told AFP news agency.
According to Nigerian media, among the
military hardware lost in the attack were
several armoured personnel carriers, 12 Toyota
pick-up trucks, three rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, more than a dozen machine guns,
and a large quantity of ammunition. The military court in the capital Abuja said
Brigadier Gen Ransome-Kuti was right to have
asked his troops to retreat in the face of
overwhelming firepower, but he should have
called for reinforcements and launched a
counter-attack to reclaim the town.
Hundreds of people were massacred by Boko
Haram in Baga in January 2015 when Gen
Ransome-Kuti and his men ran away from the
town.
This was one of the biggest defeats suffered by
the Nigerian army at the hands of Boko Haram,
given the number of people killed and the high-
calibre weapons gained by the insurgents.
The militants also detained many women in
Baga whom they used as sex slaves.
The army's reputation has been affected by a
series of mutinies by troops who on several
occasions abandoned their weapons and fled
the insurgents.
Today's sentence is intended to help restore
discipline, which many think has been lacking
within the ranks of the troops.
Some of the troops complained they were not
being given the equipment needed to fight
Boko Haram but more weapons have now
been supplied. According to Amnesty International, at least
17,000 people, mostly civilians, have been
killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched
its violent uprising to try to impose militant
Islamist rule.
With the help of regional armies, the Nigerian
military has this year retaken most areas Boko
Haram had captured.            -BBC AFRICA