Fawaz Adebisi
A federal appellate court has upheld the conviction and prison sentence of a retired Nigerian Army general, Umar Mohammed.
Umar was found guilty of stealing and misappropriating hundreds of millions of naira and millions of dollars belonging to a military-owned property company.
The Court of Appeal, on Monday, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel comprising Justices Abba Mohammed, Okon Abang, and Eberechi Nyesom, dismissed the appeal filed by Maj.-Gen. Mohammed, former Group Managing Director of Nigerian Army Properties Limited, NAPL, affirming both his conviction and the sentence handed down by a Special Court Martial in 2023.
Recall that the Special Court Martial had on October 10, 2023 found Mohammed guilty of stealing and criminal misappropriation of NAPL funds, sentencing him to imprisonment and ordering the refund of $2,099,700 and N1.65 billion to the company.
Dissatisfied with that verdict, Mohammed approached the appellate court, arguing that the conviction lacked credible and sufficient evidentiary backing.
The Court of Appeal however disagreed and while delivering judgment on Monday, the panel found that the Special Court Martial was fully justified in rejecting Mohammed’s defence, which it described as inconsistent and unreliable.
The appellate court drew particular attention to contradictions in his testimony, notably his claim that NAPL never operated berthing services, a position directly undermined by documentary evidence bearing his own acknowledgement that the company did engage in such operations.
The court sustained the conviction and sentence on all counts, save for those bordering on forgery.
Also, in August 2025 at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed for the forfeiture of 245,568,137 shares, which it alleged were acquired through the proceeds of unlawful activities carried out during Mohammed’s tenure at NAPL.
Presenting the commission’s case, EFCC counsel Hanatu Kofanaisa told the court that all statutory conditions for a final forfeiture order had been satisfied, including the mandatory publication of notices in national newspapers, and that no objections had been received within the stipulated period.
Giving her verdict, Justice Dehinde Dipeolu ordered the permanent forfeiture of the shares valued at over N5 billion linked to Mohammed and a businessman, Kayode Filani.
Justice Dipeolu, satisfied that the EFCC had met the required legal threshold, ordering the shares permanently forfeited to the Federal Government for the benefit of NAPL
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