Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has written a letter to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), requesting that the pardon given to repentant Boko Haram members be extended to 70 soldiers convicted for mutiny during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Falana said this in a letter dated August 25, 2021 titled, ‘Request to Grant Pardon to 70 Convicted Soldiers’.

The activist recalled that in prosecuting the war on terror, the Federal Government deployed thousands of ill-equipped and ill-motivated members of the armed forces to the North-East region to fight the well armed insurgents from 2013 to 2014.

He said in the course of defending the country the troops demanded arms and armament from the military authorities but they were punished.

“Instead of attending to such legitimate demand, the military authorities accused scores of the soldiers of sabotaging the counter insurgency operations of the Federal Government and proceeded to set up courts-martial to try them for mutiny.

“We defended 58 soldiers while the remaining 12 were defended by other colleagues before the Courts-Martial which sat in Abuja. At the end of the trials in August and December 2014, the Courts-Martial jailed some of the soldiers and sentenced 70 others to death for mutiny,” Falana said.

He added that in convicting the 70 soldiers, the courts martial failed to appreciate that the demand for weapons by the soldiers was justified under section 179 of the Armed Forces Act, (Cap A20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which permits a soldier, rating or aircraftman to make a complaint to his commanding officer and that he shall not be penalised for having made a complaint so far as the complaint does not contravene any provisions of the Act.

The senior advocate called on Buhari to grant full and unconditional pardon to the 70 convicted soldiers pursuant to section 175 of the constitution.

He recalled that even the then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd); and the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, later admitted that the troops did not have enough weapons.

Falana noted that a probe instituted by Buhari revealed how over $2.1bn meant for weapons was diverted by the top military brass, evidence that indeed the 70 soldiers were justified in their demand for weapons.

The activist said the Court of Appeal had upheld the appeal of four out of the 70 convicts, discharged and acquitted them while the others who lost their appeal at the Court of Appeal had since taken the legal battle to the Supreme Court.

The letter further read, “Notwithstanding the pendency of the appeal at the apex court we urge Your Excellency to exercise your prerogative of mercy in favour of the entire 70 convicted soldiers.

“It is public knowledge that the Federal Government and some state governments have recently granted pardon and rehabilitated hundreds of terrorists who had waged war against Nigeria and subjected unarmed citizens to egregious human rights abuse.

“The soldiers who were convicted of mutiny for demanding for weapons to fight such terrorist deserve to be granted pardon and rehabilitated by the Federal Government.”

Source: https://punchng.com/Falana-to-Buhari-Pardon-convicted-soldiers-as-you-do-repentant-Boko-Haram-members

Terrorists infested administrationmaladministration....very pathetic.


WE NEED YOUNG VISIONARY LEADERS IN NIGERIA!

mannobi:
Falana over the years has been one of only a few of sensible and upright lawyers in the country but this president is more interested in protecting cows and safety of his terrorists

Aptly put....SAN Falana's uprightness nature even translates in his son's life & music career>FALZ...

oladipuposadeeq:
boss even the so called young visionary leaders you are talking about self, they don use money blind their eyes or they don threaten them sotey na under duvet they go hide. I tire for this country i swear. I was at cele round about yday for just an hour and I see wetin lastma and police dey do people.

Well that's because we still have bad old leaders.....we need to keep the campaign for young visionary leaders to come on board the political terrain because we are the electorates! Which would you prefer to stay inactive and things continue like business as usual or to do this noble campaigning online & offline towards 2023....did you ever in your wildest memory thought that a protests as #ENDSARS would put a stop to the murderous heinous police group called SARS? That's a pointer to tell us that if we as a people are active there'll be a positive result.

Trustedpronet:


They'll rather give you young Fulani to govern you.

Well it'll be better than a medical tourist leadership we have that keep wasting our tax payers monies for medical trips.


@SENIORWRITER

Both the convicted Soldiers oooo, repentant Boko Harams oooo and that dunce of a Mannequin are all useless. All of them.

That's an advise to a dead man.

The repentant terrorists are more valuable to Buhari because they can still be useful to actualise Sharia agitation while the soldiers are pro-state and would fight against the terrorists.

Summarily, the terrorists are more valuable to Buhari because of religion fanatism than the soldiers who are trained to be patriotic to the state.

Praxis758:
That's an advise to a dead man.

The repentant terrorists are more valuable to Buhari because they can still be useful to actualise Sharia agitation while the soldiers are pro-state and would fight against the terrorists.

Summarily, the terrorists are more valuable to Buhari because of religion fanatism than the soldiers who are trained to be patriotic to the state.

Exactly the way it is.

Buhari will rather the opposite of what you're advertising him to do.

Don't mind them
Later those so called repentant bokoharam will be incorporated into the army to sabotage the army's effort and leak info to their former coronies

Baba will turn deaf ears to this

what is good for the goose, is good for the gander

Buhari wont as the Soldiers are either southerners or middle belters

ThankGod will still have an upright person like Falana

Buhari get ear problem e no go hear

I dare bubu to adhere to this

Of course he will pardon the convicted soldiers ONLY if the soldiers are fulanis

MALAMI ABUBAKAR is a terrorist

Ok

Boko Haram is brainchild of our dear president, after cow it is Boko Haram, no one dare compare highly respected Boko Haram with mere soldiers

Na so e supose be...

But sorry, it's a tyrant govt

Power

stake your money and stop spamming every thread

If you can even pardon boko haram terrorist and bandits... Then nobody is worthy of staying at correctional centres or prisons anymore regardless of the crime they've committed

The Fulani dullard won't agree to that

Not the buhari we know.
These are the kind of people he treats in the language they understand.

Terrorist administration

They would rather die on the hill of hypocracy than listen and act to the benefit of everybody.

Wasted advice on a yeast infested ear.

Seniorwriter:
Terrorists infested administrationmaladministration....very pathetic.


WE NEED YOUNG VISIONARY LEADERS IN NIGERIA!


@SENIORWRITER

boss even the so called young visionary leaders you are talking about self, they don use money blind their eyes or they don threaten them sotey na under duvet they go hide. I tire for this country i swear. I was at cele round about yday for just an hour and I see wetin lastma and police dey do people.