According to reeports, Military authorities last night sentenced 12 soldiers to death by firing squad for mutiny after they were found guilty of attempting to kill their erstwhile General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Mohammed, by shooting at his official car between May 13th and 14th, 2014. The incident took place at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri.
Four soldiers were discharged and acquitted while one soldier was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment with hard labour.
The soldiers were arraigned before the court martial on a six-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, disobeying lawful orders and various acts inimical to military service. The convicted
soldiers are:
Cpl. David Musa, Cpl. David Robert, Cpl. Jasper Baido, Cpl. Mohammed Sani,
L/Cpl. Friday Onu, L/Cpl. Yusuf Shuaibu, L/Cpl. Emmanuel Iganmu, L/Cpl. Stephen Clement,
Priv. Andrew Gbede, Priv. Nurudeen Ahmed, Priv. Ifeanyi Anukabe, Priv. Alao Samuel,
Priv. Alan Linus, Priv. Namaan Samuel, Priv. Ichocho Jeremiah, Priv. Sebastine Amah and Priv. Amadi Chukwudi.
One of the soldiers, Private Ise Ubong, was, however, discharged and acquitted, having been found innocent of all the charges.
The nine-member all-military court martial also found the soldiers guilty of:
Insubordination, use of abusive language and leveling of false accusation against their superior officers, among others.
Guilty of preventing the movement of some of their injured colleagues to hospital and obstructing the evacuation of their dead colleagues who were killed in an ambush on their way from an operation in Chibok, Borno State.
The soldiers had engaged in act of mutiny when they revolted against the then GOC, 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed, who escaped death by the whiskers when a group of disgruntled soldiers turned their gun at his vehicle and pulled the trigger.
The soldiers who perpetrated this near-act of mutiny, according to various accounts, were reacting in anger over the ambush attack they suffered in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists on their way back from an operation in Kalabalge during which about 12 of them got killed.
The few soldiers that survived the attack blamed their plight on the military hierarchy in the division headed by the GOC who, they said, had insisted that they must return to Maiduguri via a route they had earlier considered dangerous for them to take at night.
Some soldiers who shared the sentiments of the soldiers that carried out the shooting on the GOC said the victims and those that survived had pleaded to pass the night in one of the villages so that they could safely return to Maiduguri.
But those commanding the troop reportedly declined their request on the grounds that the GOC wanted them back to Maiduguri at all cost. Source
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