Trooper Azunna Maduabuchi was sentenced to death by firing squad by a Borno State court-martial for the murder of Lieutenant Babakaka Ngorgi, his commander at the 202 Battalion of the 21 Special Armoured Brigade in Bama. Maduabuchi was found guilty during a court hearing at the Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri on Tuesday and was given a death by firing squad sentence.

The court ruled that this complies with Section 106 of the Armed Forces Act. The late Ngorgi was on the phone with his newlywed bride in July 2020 when Maduabuchi fired at least five shots at him. Shortly after the military arrived from scouting the area to fend off Boko Haram insurgents, he reportedly started the shooting rampage. We were all taken aback because we had not anticipated that such an event might occur at that precise moment. Officers and soldiers were feeling so depressed that they wanted to go kill the gunman in the guardroom, but the Brigade Commander told them not to.