By Ezekiel Attah on September 16, 2014

Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the
military authorities not to confirm the death sentence
passed on the 12 soldiers for mutiny and other
offences, rather to commute the death sentence passed
on the soldiers to imprisonment in the interest of
Justice.
The 12 soldiers are among 18 soldiers arraigned for
mutiny for firing shots at the General Officer
Commanding of 7th division of Nigerian Army, Major
General Ahmed Mohammed on May 14, 2014 in
Maiduguri. The convicts were found guilty of criminal
conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder,
insubordination to a particular order and false
accusation, according to report from The Nation
However, if the death sentence of the Maiduguri 12 is
confirmed by the Army Council, Falana advised the
convicted soldiers to take the case to the Court of
Appeal.
Falana remarked that the Court of Appeal is likely to
follow its decision in the case of Yussuf and 21 others
versus Nigerian Army (2003) 36 WRN 68 “wherein the
sentence of life imprisonment passed on the appellants
who had rioted at the Cairo Airport in Egypt was
quashed.
“It was the finding of the Court that the offense of
mutiny complained of by the respondent was instigated
by the officers who had diverted the medical
allowances which ought to have been paid to the
convicts while receiving medical treatment in Egypt”, he
stated.
The erudite lawyer argued that the facts and
circumstance of the mutinous act of the convicted
soldiers should be taken into consideration.
Before the incident the
soldiers at the Maimalari
cantonment had
complained of
insufficient ammunition,
food and
allowances. The visit of
the GOC was said to
have coincided with the
arrival of the corpses of
soldiers killed in an
ambush in Chibok on
the night of May 13, 2014. It was the tragic situation
which reportedly infuriated the soldiers.
Having investigated and confirmed the circumstances
which led to the mutiny in question the military
authorities removed the GOC.
Falana pointed out that while mutiny cannot be
condoned by the armed forces because it strikes at the
foundation of discipline in the military, he emphasised
that the 18 soldiers were erroneously charged under
section 52(1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of
the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
In the circumstance, the 12 convicts should have been
charged under section 52(2) of the Armed Forces Act
which provides for life imprisonment.
He noted that the General Officer Commanding whose
car was shot at was not killed. He said this explained
why the soldiers were charged with attempted murder
which does not attract the death penalty.
The lawyer recalled that in the case of the Akure 27, the
convicted soldiers were equally charged with mutiny
but convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He said the Army Council reduced the sentence of life
imprisonment to seven years and later pardoned the
convicts.
He recalled that the fact that the allowances of the
convicts who had served in Liberia were diverted by
some military officers was taken into cognizance by the
Army Council and informed the mitigation of their
sentence.



http://www.today.ng/news/mutiny-convicted-soldiers-have-a-strong-case-they-cant-be-killed-falana/

I pray they reverse the judgement. I pity these guys and their family. All these while, they have been serving their fatherland with the hope of living or death. Now that they protest against irregular payment of their entitlement, they don turn enemy that must be terminated be that ?

Hope for the oppressed. Zombie career.

tayooluwole: .

What is "."?

Nice one Falana. The Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba soldiers will be eternally grateful to you if you can take up this case and ensure that their death sentences are commuted to prison terms.

I guess we cannot afford to lost these gallant men for the abuse of power, negligence of duty, corrupt practices, and inhuman treatment of a few officers.

The GOC to me should rather be charged for capital offence and not those who registered the displeasure over man inhumanity to man.

lakpalakpa: Nice one Falana. The Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba soldiers will be eternally grateful to you if you can take up this case and ensure that their death sentences are commuted to prison terms.

can u people ever comment without playing the tribal card?...

May God have His way!

Beta lawyer! The soldiers were aggravated. They're humans first before they're soldiers.

lakpalakpa: Nice one Falana. The Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba soldiers will be eternally grateful to you if you can take up this case and ensure that their death sentences are commuted to prison terms.

The military as an institution has its own judicial process for matters which are strictly military in nature and I doubt if there's room for a "bloody civilian" like Falana to represent any of the accused and sentenced soldiers.

Perhaps, if the military justice system at some point merges into the appellate judicial system, then he might come in

chidexy:

The military as an institution has its own judicial process for matters which are strictly military in nature and I doubt if there's room for a "bloody civilian" like Falana to represent any of the accused and sentenced soldiers.

Perhaps, if the military justice system at some point merges into the appellate judicial system, then he might come in

He represented a group of soldiers some years back and they had their death sentence turned to dismissal, so forget all this talk about bloody civilian representing

Dhellake: He represented a group of soldiers some years back and they had their death sentence turned to dismissal, so forget all this talk about bloody civilian representing

I don't think he really understand the difference between judicial system under democracy and under military regime,scores of convicted soldiers (under democratic system) find solace in the judicial system.

chidexy:

The military as an institution has its own judicial process for matters which are strictly military in nature and I doubt if there's room for a "bloody civilian" like Falana to represent any of the accused and sentenced soldiers.

Perhaps, if the military justice system at some point merges into the appellate judicial system, then he might come in

Illiteracy in 3D..

abeg enuf of bloodshed in nigeria. Pardon we plead.