Nigerian Soldeirs sentenced to death

12 soldiers were sentenced to death by the Military Court Martial on Tuesday morning. They were among the 18 soldiers who were charged for mutiny at the Maimalari Cantonment on the 13th and 14th of May 2014 .The soldiers were accused with six count of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny,disobeying lawful orders and numerous acts aforesaid to be harmful to the military service. The Soldeirs were also found guilty of insubordinate behaviour, use of abusive language, leveling false accusation against their superior officers, among others by the nine-member military Court Martial
There was an assasination attempt on the General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Major General Ahmed Mohammed by the accused soldeirs who shot at his official car, between May 13th and 14th, 2014. The car was bullet proof.
The soldeirs were also found them guilty of hindering the passage of some of their wounded colleagues to hospital and preventing evacuation of their dead ones who were killed their way from an operation in Chibok in an ambush. The event took place at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri during the ongoing counter insurgency campaign. Those to die are: Cpl. Jasper Braidolor, David Musa, Friday Onu, Andrew Ngbede, Nurudeen Ahmed, Ifeanyi Alukhagbe, Alao Samuel, Amadi Chukwudi, Alan Linus, Yusuf Shuaibu, Emmanuel Igomu and Stephen Clement. Jeremiah Ichocho, was sentenced to two(2) years without labour after he was found guilty of Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL). The court found Five not guilty and were discharged and acquitted.
The legal team of the felons appealed with the court martial to temper justice with mercy. The team narrated out pathetic stories about the family backgrounds of the felons. One was said to be father of a five-month-old baby and another was the only son of his widowed mother. The defence team highlighted that giving them maximum sentence would do more harm than good, adding that it would amplify the anguish of their dependants.
The court said the sentences were subject to approval by higher authorities and accepted the right of the soldiers, who pleaded not guilty to most of the charges, to appeal the judgment.
The court was presided over by Brig. Gen. CC Okwonkwo. Other members of the court are: Lt. Col. CR Nnebeife, Col. TS Nurseman, Major I Yusuf, Col. TO Olowomeye, Col. IG Lassa, Lt.Col. JK Feboke, Major TA Yakubu and Major AE Martins. Lt. Col. AA Audu and Lt. Col. U Ukpe served as prosecutors.