"We Won’t Plead For Soldiers Convicted Of Mutiny" — Senate

The Senate said yesterday it would not intervene in the case of 12 soldiers, who were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to death by a military tribunal, saying the penalty prescribed in the Military Act must be carried out. Chairman Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Thompson Sekibo disclosed this shortly after a close-door meeting between the senate committee and the Service Chiefs represented by the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Air Marshal Alex Badeh and Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah.

Senator Sekibo, who represents Rivers East in the senate said the Senate was not under pressure to intervene in the case. “No we are not, because the Armed Forces are established by an Act of the National Assembly. The Act spelt out categorically the conduct of the soldiers and the way they are to behave wherever they are.

“If you join the military, that Act is to guide you and your conduct. If you go contrary to any of the prescribed sections of the Act the punishment prescribed for the Act you violated will come on you. “So the military did not just wake up one day and say that they are going to kill Mr. A or Mr. B. They went through the necessary processes and they found them guilty.

“But I think that those found guilty also have a way out. They can go on appeal and if the appeal finds them not guilty that will be it. But for what the military has done, they have done the best thing; because you must instil discipline in the Armed Forces. “If you don’t do so, one day all of us here will be sacked and you will not hear of this place,” he stated.

Mr. Sekibo called on Nigerians to encourage the military to ensure that it discharged its duties effectively. The 12 Nigerian soldiers were on September 16, sentenced to death for mutiny after firing shots at their commanding officer, Abubakar Mohammed, in Maiduguri on May 14.

Source: Vanguard