A military court in Abuja yesterday sentenced 12 soldiers to death after being found guilty of mutiny and other offences.
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| Death penalty |
They were a total of 18 soldiers who were on trial but 12 are facing the death penalty while 5 were discharged and the remaining one would serve a 28 days jail sentence with hard labour.
Their Crime
On the 14th of May 2014, the soldiers had fired shots at the General Officer Commanding the newly created 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mohammmed, in Maiduguri.
The act is viewed in the military as mutiny so the soldiers were therefore on trials.
The discharged soldiers were David Robert, Iseh Ubong, Mohammed Sani, Naaman Samuel and Sebastine Gwaba.
Jeremiah Echocho was sentenced to 28 days with hard labour.
Those who were sentenced to death are David Musa, Jasper Braidolor, Friday Onuh, Igonmu Emmanuel, Yusuf Shuaibu, Andrew Ugbede, Ifeanyi Alukagba, Nurudeen Ahmed, Amadi Chukwuma, Alao Samuel, Stephen Clement and Alan Linus.
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| The soldiers standing trial for mutiny |
They were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder (shooting of the vehicle of the GOC); insubordination to a particular order; insubordination and false accusation. |
The legal team of the convicts pleaded with the court martial to temper justice with mercy.
According to Punch, The team reeled out pathetic stories about the family backgrounds of the convicted servicemen.
One was said to be the only son of his octogenarian widowed mother.
Another is the father of a five-month-old baby.
The defence team argued that giving them maximum sentence would do more harm than good, adding that it would increase the agony of their dependants.
The attack on the GOC and his men reportedly occurred when they visited the cantonment.
The Maimalari Cantonment is the headquarters of 7 Division, the newest Division of the Nigerian Army.
Military sources said that soldiers at the cantonment had been complaining of insufficient ammunition, food and allowances prior to the GOC’s visit.
They were also reportedly unhappy and their morale was at its lowest ebb because there had not been troop rotation for a long time since their deployment to combat Boko Haram terrorists in the North- East.
“The GOC’s visit coincided with the arrival of the corpses of soldiers killed in an ambush in Chibok on the night of May 13, 2014.
“The apparently agitated soldiers, on sighting the corpses of their slain colleagues became hysteric. Some opened fire on the GOC, who was lucky to have escaped unhurt. However, the bullets hit and seriously injured some of his bodyguards, who also fled to safety,” the source said.
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