True, the war against terror and insurgency in the Northeast of Nigeria has not only claimed a huge number of innocent lives, it has engendered a massive wave of internally displaced persons and traumatized a whole nation. But, happily, it has also brought out the best in Nigeria’s military, against all odds. While men of the armed forces have routed the insurgents in some places, reclaimed hitherto occupied territories and pushed the terrorists backwards, the recent trial and conviction of some mutineers by the General court-martial of the Nigerian Army which sat in Abuja has also shown that the nation’s combatants are falling victim of the war. This is quite painful and must be well handled to prevent a drop in the morale of the troops and to ensure victory for Nigeria.
The court-martial sentenced 12 of the charged soldiers to death, five were discharged and acquitted while one was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment with hard labour. Those on the death row include Jasper Braidolor, David Musa, Friday Onuh, Yusuf Shuaibu, Igonmu Emmanuel, Andrew Ugbede, Nurudeen Ahmed. The others are Ifeanyi Alukagba, Alao Samuel, Amadi Chukwuma, Alan Linus and Stephen Clement.
The soldiers were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder, insubordination as well as false accusation.
While the truth of their sins is known only to the military authorities, it has been argued, however, that the charges against the soldiers were, at least, improper. The soldiers were accused of attempted murder which under the armed forces Act does not attract death penalty but rather life imprisonment. Mutiny, no doubt, is a serious offence in the military the world over and customarily attracts severe punishment. Besides, the Army Act provides the basis upon which soldiers are enlisted and they are professionally bound by both the army Act and civil laws. Mutiny usually attracts death penalty. The President and the National Assembly have also made the point that the country is at war and, therefore, the times are inauspicious for any misdeed on the part of any soldier. The military is renowned for esprit de corps among its men and this translates into mutual responsibility which is imperative for the country’s defence and security. Desertion, of course, is frowned upon severely as it is devastatingly anti-thetical to the fighting spirit of the armed forces.
Nevertheless, the circumstances of the offences of these soldiers are such that do not warrant any high-handed punishment. Which is why many Nigerians have appealed to the Army Council not to confirm the death sentence passed on the 12 soldiers but to commute same, at most, to imprisonment in the interest of justice and in the spirit of forgiveness. Some have even posited that the court-martial process was very unconstitutional and violated the principle of natural justice especially because no one was aware of any legal defence of the accused persons.
Beyond any legal argument, however, there is a deeper moral angle to the alleged mutiny and the circumstances in which the said offence was committed would seem mitigating. It is clear from the news and reports coming from the frontline in the war against the insurgents that there are internal saboteurs against Nigerian soldiers and also that the army is ill-equipped to prosecute the war as it is short of basic provisions such as food and ammunition. These elements are themselves demoralizing. Courage, after all, does not lie in being used as cannon fodders. Therefore, equity demands that the root of the so-called insubordination ought to have been tackled instead of imposition of death sentences on the soldiers who apparently only reacted to a bad situation.
Nigeria can also do without any more bloodletting. This country has endured enough agony, and shedding of more blood will be gravely counterproductive and could dampen the morale of the soldiers who are putting their lives in arms’ way in the frontline. It is also important to note that historically, Nigeria has never executed any soldier for desertion and it is no use to begin a ritual of needless killings especially under a civil democratic dispensation. All over the world, there are changing dynamics in civil-military relations. In the West African sub-region especially in the French speaking countries, for example, soldiers go on strike/protest over non-payment of salary or poor services condition. There is also the example of soldiers who rioted at the Cairo Airport in Egypt and whose sentences were quashed.
Even in Nigeria and in ways that have expanded the constitutionalism and ambit of rights of the armed forces, the Army Council has often variously ruled in favour of appellants in cases of insubordination and mutiny. And there is also the Akure 27 soldiers who served in the ECOMOG but protested the non-payment of their allowances for which the Army Council commuted their sentence of life imprisonment to seven years and subsequent pardon. The mitigating basis was the irresponsibility of the officer corps. In the Cairo case, officers diverted the medical allowances of the soldiers and in the Akure 27 case, officers misappropriated the allowances of the accused. The accepted rule is that Generals lead by example not by gross irresponsibility.
While a passionate plea is hereby entered for a drastic reduction of the sentences, the Army Council should thoroughly examine in totality the very circumstances of the mutinous act of the affected soldiers with a view to preventing such in the future. The President should also exercise the prerogative of mercy vested in him by virtue of Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution and save the nation the agony of another round of killings off the battlefield.
