Sergeant Akawu Bala of the Nigerian Army, who has been on death row since 2012 following his sentence for alleged murder by the general court martial of the army has finally been discharged and acquitted by the Supreme Court.

Since 2012, Bala has been in Kaduna prison over accusation of shooting one Isa Mohammed AK47 rifle on December 9, 2012, when he was attached to the African Petroleum Station at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna, and Mohammed reportedly died on December 10, 2012, at Saint Gerald’s Catholic Hospital in Kaduna.

The sergeant had claimed that he shot at the deceased, and one other person in self-defence, and that it was dark on the day the incident happened.

He further added that he had ordered them to go back, but they kept walking towards him, and that he got apprehensive because it was during the peak of the Boko Haram attacks.

As a result of the incident, Sergeant Bala has been standing trial for the alleged murder before the general court-martial on a two-count murder charge punishable under section 106 of the Armed Forces Act 2014. The accused was then found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.

On February 17, 2017 however, the Court of Appeal in upheld Bala’s appeal against the death penalty, saying that the charge sheet upon which he was tried and convicted was not signed by a General Officer Commanding (GOC) as required by law.

The presiding judge who read the Court of Appeal lead judgement, Obietonbara Daniel Kalo, had declared the process of the trial and conviction of the sergeant a nullity, though the court did not give a consequential order discharging the accused,

And not entirely satisfied with the pronouncement, Bala filed an appeal before the Supreme Court on March 16, 2017.

In the ensuing legal argument, Reuben Atabo who is the appellant’s lawyer said that since his client’s trial was declared a nullity, the court of appeal ought to have made a consequential order to discharge him.

Also the lawyer also drew the attention of the Supreme Court to section 193 of the Armed Forces Act 2014, which he said prohibited the retrial of any military personnel after his trial had been voided and set aside.

The Nigerian Army, through its lead counsel, Isaac Udoka, opposed Atabo’s argument, and urged the supreme court to order the retrial of the appellant in the interest of justice.

In the eventual judgment in the appeal marked SC/889/2017 on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court discharged the convicted soldier.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju of the Supreme Court held that the right thing was to discharge the appellant since his trial and conviction were already voided, adding that under section 193 of the Armed Forces Act 2014, Bala can no longer be tried on the same offences.

The court then ordered the immediate release of the convict from Kaduna prison.