Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana
(SAN), on Thursday described as dubious, the judgment of a General Martial
Court in Abuja which on Wednesday sentenced 54 soldiers to death for conspiracy
to commit mutiny and mutiny.
Falana said in a statement that the
soldiers should never have been convicted for mutiny for refusing to embark on
a mission to fight the well armed Boko Haram sect without being provided with
the necessary motivation and weapons.
Falana, who was the defence lawyer
for the batch of 59 soldiers tried by the GMC, said the soldiers’ disobedience
to the said order was a refusal to commit suicide.
The Brig.-Gen. Musa Yusuf-led court
martial in its judgment convicted the soldiers for disobeying an order of their
commanding officer on August 4, 2014.
Five of the 59 soldiers that were
prosecuted were discharged and acquitted by the GMC.
The soldiers, most of whom joined
the army in 2012 with ages ranging between 21 and 25 belonged to the Special
111 Battalion in Maiduguri.
Their commanding officer, Lt.-Col.
Timothy Opurum, was said to have asked the soldiers to proceed on a mission to
recapture Delwa, Balubulin and Damboa in Borno State from the Boko Haram
terrorists, an order which the soldiers allegedly disobeyed.
Falana said the judgment was
characterised by “gross miscarriage of justice” and the acquittal of five of
the 59 accused soldiers was “to give the false impression that the dubious
verdict was fair and just.”
He said the judgment would not
stand, adding that he would explore all legal measures to stop the army
authorities from giving effect to ‘the genocidal verdict’.
He said, “Convinced that soldiers
who made a legitimate demand for equipment to fight the insurgents cannot, by
any stretch of imagination, be properly convicted for mutiny we shall take all
necessary legal measures to prevent the army authorities from giving effect to
the genocidal verdict of the court-martial.”
Falana explained in his statement
entitled, ‘Halt the genocidal elimination of Nigerian soldiers’, that
allegiance taken by the soldiers was not a license to commit suicide.
He said, “We submit that the oath of
allegiance taken by the accused soldiers is not a license to commit suicide.
“It is a solemn undertaking to
defend the nation based on the expectation that the Federal Government would
have complied with Section 217 of the Constitution on the mandatory requirement
to equip the armed forces adequately.
“It is important to state that when
equipment was made available on 18 August 2014, the accused soldiers fought
gallantly.”
According to the lawyer, the
Battalion only comprised 170 instead of 750 soldiers.
He explained, “The soldiers were in
the SF 111 Battallion which has 174 instead of 750 soldiers.
“The soldiers in the Battalion were
neither equipped nor motivated. They are young men whose ages range between 21
and 25. Most of them joined the army in 2012.
“With little or no training
whatsoever they were deployed to fight the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
“The funds allocated for payment of
the salaries and allowances of the soldiers and for purchase of arms and
ammunition are usually diverted and cornered by corrupt military officers.
“Instead of bringing such
unpatriotic officers to book the military authorities have engaged in the
diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing
them to death without any legal justification.”
PUNCH
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