12 Soldiers Sentenced To Death For Attack On Their General Officer Commanding [GOC]

A military court sitting in Abuja on Monday found 13 out of the 18 soldiers standing trial for mutiny and other offences guilty.

Consequently, 12 of the convicted soldiers were sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny, one was jailed for 28 days with hard labour, while five were discharged and acquitted.

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.

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.

The soldiers were charged with six count of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, disobeying lawful orders and various acts inimical to the military service.

The nine-member all military Court Martial headed by the President of the Court Martial, Maj. Gen. C.C. Okonkwo, found the soldiers guilty of insubordinate behaviour, use of abusive language, leveling false accusation against their superior officers, among others.

Before their sentence, the legal team of the convicts had pleaded with the court martial to "temper justice with mercy," after narrating the pathetic stories of the family backgrounds of the convicted servicemen to the Court Martial team.

One of the convicted was said to be the only son of his 80-year-old widowed mother, another, father of a five-month-old baby.

The defence team in their argument prayed that giving them maximum sentence would do more harm than good, pleading that it would increase the agony of their dependants.

However, they were found guilty of attempting to kill their erstwhile General Officer Commanding, 7 Division, Major General Ahmed Mohammed by shooting at his official car between May 13 and 14, 2014..

The incident took place at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri in the course of the ongoing counter insurgency campaign. .

The Maimalari Cantonment is the headquarters of 7 Division, the newest Division of the Nigerian Army.

The court also found them guilty of preventing the movement of some of their injured colleagues to hospital and obstructing evacuation of their dead colleagues who were killed in ambush on their way from a operation in Chibok, Borno State.

The attack on the GOC and his men reportedly occurred when they visited the cantonment.

Military sources said that soldiers at the cantonment had been complaining of insufficient ammunition, food and allowances prior to the GOC’s visit.

They were also reportedly unhappy and their morale was at its lowest ebb because there had not been troop rotation for a long time since their deployment to combat Boko Haram terrorists in the North- East.

“The GOC’s visit coincided with the arrival of the corpses of soldiers killed in an ambush in Chibok on the night of May 13, 2014.

“The apparently agitated soldiers, on sighting the corpses of their slain colleagues became hysteric. Some opened fire on the GOC, who was lucky to have escaped unhurt. However, the bullets hit and seriously injured some of his bodyguards, who also fled to safety,” the source said.