A military court sitting in Abuja on Monday sentenced twelve soldiers who were standing trial for mutiny and other offences guilty to death, five were discharged and acquitted while the remaining one was jailed for 28 days with hard labour.
The President of the Court Martial, Maj. Gen. C.C. Okonkwo, said the 12 soldiers were found guilty of three of the most heinous charges bars.
The soldiers had on May 14, 2014 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.
Those discharged are David Robert, Mohammed Sani, Iseh Ubong, Sebastine Gwaba and Naaman Samuel.
Jeremiah Echocho was sentenced to 28 days with hard labour.
Those who were sentenced to death are Jasper Braidolor, David Musa, Friday Onuh, Yusuf Shuaibu, Igonmu Emmanuel, Andrew Ugbede, Nurudeen Ahmed, Ifeanyi Alukagba, Alao Samuel, Amadi Chukwuma, Alan Linus, and Stephen Clement.
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.
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.
Next world, shoot to kill, don’t threaten as the consequences of both is death. In any case the sentence may be upturned at the Appeal tribunal
Well, am not a military person and have very little information about what rules guide the miltary sector. My questions as a civilian are; can the military ever be a democratic institution, so that people get to validate their actions; secondly, can we hear the other side of the story of the convicted soldiers. Is it because the GOC is involved, supposing it were to be a lower officer?