A military court sitting in Abuja on Monday found 13 out of the 18 soldiers standing trial for mutiny and other offences guilty.
Twelve of the convicted soldiers were
sentenced to death, five were discharged and acquitted while the
remaining one was jailed for 28 days with hard labour.
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.
READ MORE AFTER THE CUT.............................................
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 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 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment