A Nigerian Army court-martial sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, has dismissed a 38-year-old Regimental Medical Doctor after he was found guilty of having s*x with his fellow officer's wife.
The alleged Army officer
A Regimental Medical Doctor who was found guilty of having s*x with his fellow officer’s wife, was on Wednesday dismissed by a Nigerian Army court-martial which sat at the Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment of the 2 Division, Ojo, Ibadan in Oyo State.
According to an exclusive report on Premium Times, the court slammed a two-count charge of illicit s*xual relationship and unprofessional conduct on Lieutenant Musa Mustapha Bature, and accused him of taking advantage of a colleague’s wife who was supposed to be his patient.
The 38-year old officer, whose fate would be finally decided by a military council, which statutorily ratifies such sentences, reportedly confessed to the crime, and pleaded with military authorities to give him corrective punishment rather than a terminal one.
Sources familiar with the trial said the accused, a native of Kebbi State, had a notorious history of s*xual indiscipline in his four years of service. His conduct was recently brought to the attention of the army authority.
Delivering his judgement, the President of the Court Martial, Brigadier General Raji, who is also the Commander of 52 Division Signals, said the court opted for a lesser sentence of dismissing the doctor because the convict was a young officer who got commissioned into the Nigeria Army only in 2012.
He said in his sentence: “Given the level of treachery and the betrayal of trust you displayed by having sexual relation with your colleague’s wife, the court is tempted to award you a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Court has however looked that you were only commissioned to the Nigerian Army in 2012, you may therefore not be well grounded in the traditions of the Nigerian Army. Ignorance, however, does not excuse your despicable behaviour. So therefore, the court sentences you as follows:-
“On Count 1, dismissal with disgrace and dishonour. On Count 2, dismissal from the armed forces.
“Note that these sentences are subject to confirmation by the Army Council and the sentences are to run concurrently.”
According to revelations made during the court-martial, the officer’s last s*xual escapade involved the wife of a fellow officer whom he took advantage of when she visited his clinic for consultation on a gynaecological case.
It was reported that after seeing the newly-married woman from Yobe State, whose identity they asked should be protected, the doctor insisted on conducting a more detailed examination of her.
Sources say the young doctor disregarded prescribed medical ethics requiring that such examination be carried out in the presence of a chaperon.
The officer’s wife served as one of the prosecution witnesses in the case. In her testimony, according to details, the woman gave a detailed account of how the doctor s*xually stimulated her before they had s*x in the man’s office.
She told the court that the doctor later invited her in the evening of the same day to his house so she could pick an ointment he earlier prescribed for her treatment. There, they engaged in another round of intercourse, she narrated.
The young woman said she reported to the barrack’s chaplain after becoming crushed by the weight of her guilt