Photos: Nigerian Army Sentences 12 Soldiers to Death, Frees Five Others over Mutiny
soldiers charged with Court-Martial to death by
firing squad, while one was sentenced to 28
days with Imprisonment with Hard Labour
(IHL). Five others were set free.
According to the sentence delivered by the
President of the General Court Martial trying
the 18 soldiers, Brig-Gen. Chukwuemeka
Okonkwo, Corporal Jasper Braidolor and 10
others were found guilty of Counts 1,2 and 3
and were sentenced to death by firing squad.
In the same vein, Lance Corporal (Lcpl)
Stephen Clement was found culpable in count
3 and 4, attracting death sentence, while
Private (pte) Ichocho Jeremiah was guilty of
Counts 5 and 6, which gave him a 28days IHL.
After the ruling, Okonkwo said that "these
sentences are subject to confirmation",
meaning that it can be appealed at the Federal
Court of Appeal.
The soldiers were court-martialled on a six-
count charge for being involved in an alleged
mutiny in May 14, when some aggrieved
troops opened fire at a car carrying the
Commanding Officer 7 Division in Maiduguri,
Borno State, Maj-Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed.
While 14 of the accused were found guilty
under different counts, four of them were
discharged and acquitted of all charges.
The accused soldiers with their ranks and
service numbers include:
96NA/ 42/6235 Cpl Jasper Braidolor
96NA/ 43/ 10277 Cpl David Musa
05NA/ 57/ 3451 LCpl Friday Onun
09NA/ 64/ 4905 LCpl Yusuf Shuaibu
09NA/ 62/ 1648 LCpl Igomu Emmanuel
09NA/ 64/ 4214 Pte Andrew Ngbede
10NA/ 65/ 8344 Pte Nurudeen Ahmed
10NA/ 65/ 7084 Pte Ifeanyi Alukhagbe
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Alao Samuel
13NA/ 69/ 2907 Pte Amadi Chukwudi
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Allan Linus
93NA/ 36/ 1542 Cpl David Luhbut
97NA/ 45/ 7423 Cpl Muhammed Sani
03NA/ 53/ 816 Lcpl Stephen Clement
09NA/ 62/ 1648 Inama Samuel
09NA/ 64/ 5858 Iseh Ubong
10NA/ 65/ 6912 Ichocho Jeremiah
10NA/ 65/ 7343 Sabastine Gwaba
According to the court statement, the soldiers
were accused to have rebelled in Maimalari
cantonment, blaming their GOC and other
officers for the deaths of four of their
colleagues.
It could be recalled that the soldiers claimed
that they were ambushed while on a special
operation in Kalabalge Local Government Area
near Chibok, where over 200 girls were
abducted from the Government Secondary
School.
They alleged that after the operation, during
which some military equipment were
recovered from the insurgents, the soldiers,
who arrived the operation location at night,
were asked to return to Maiduguri despite the
pleading to be allowed to return the next
morning, as the night trip would be too risky.
Unfortunately, the troops had to drive to
Maiduguri at night and halfway through their
journey, they were said to have ran into a
Boko Haram ambush and with more than 10 of
them killed while some others were injured,
which angered the soldiers to rebel against
their superiors, with the GOC being fired at
and forced to be replaced.
Alarmed by the development, the military
authorities arrested the suspected soldiers and
instituted a military board of inquiry into the
circumstances surrounding their conduct.
As a follow up, the Army through internal
memo, signed by the Commander, Army
Headquarter Garrison, Mogadishu
Cantonement, Brig-Gen B.T. Ndiomu, ordered
the constitution of a General Court Martial, to
be presided by Brig-Gen. C.C Okonkwo
The military court was made up of seven
members, two waiting members, a judge
advocate and two prosecuting officers were
said to have been constituted on June 26 and
started sitting on July 6.
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