Fifty nine Nigerian soldiers on Wednesday in
Abuja appeared in an Army General Court
Martial on a two-count charge of criminal
conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny. All the accused soldiers pleaded not guilty to
the charge. The prosecutor, J.E. Nwosu, an army Captain,
alleged that the accused had on August 4, in
Maiduguri, refused to join the 111 Special
Forces Battalion troops, commanded by Timothy
Opurum, a Lieutenant Colonel for advance
operation. Mr. Nwosu said the operation was meant to
recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in
Borno State from the Boko Haram terrorists. According to him, the offence is punishable
under Section 52(1) (a) of the Armed Forces Act
Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria,
2004. The prosecution called the commander of the
111 Special Forces, Lt.-Col. Opurum, as one of
the witnesses. He also tendered the statement of the commander
and was admitted by the court and marked as
Exhibit P1. Mr. Opurum, in his testimony, said the Special
Forces were tasked with advancing to recapture
Delwa to clear the way for other battalions to
pass through to recapture Babulin and Damboa
from the insurgents. He said he took off for the operation with
only four officers and 29 soldiers as “tasked”
after majority of the 174 soldiers in the unit
refused to join the operation. The witness said after he took charge of the
Special Forces, he addressed and assured them
that they could achieve the task given to them. He, however, said the soldiers were “hesitant to
partake in the operation” in spite of the
assurances. Under cross examination by Femi Falana, who
appeared for the accused, Mr. Opurum said 47
of the soldiers who initially refused, later
rejoined the forces for another operation. Mr. Opurum said the 47 came back after he
called for reinforcement when they came under
attack from the terrorists, who out-numbered
them with superior weapons. Asked if the soldiers refused to fight or
refused to join the operation because of lack of
superior weapons, he said all units in the
North-East had requested for weapons. On the disciplinary measure taken against the 47
soldiers, who initially refused, he said the
process for that was to begin when they were
court martialled. At this juncture, Mr. Falana made an oral
application to the court for the record of
weapons recovered from the 47 soldiers, when
they initially refused to join the operations. The President of the Court, Brig.-Gen.
Mohammed Yusuf, said the application had
been noted “for action” and adjourned hearing
till Thursday to enable the prosecution call
another witness. The General Court Martial was inaugurated on
Oct. 2 to try 97 soldiers, including 15 senior
officers for mutiny. (NAN)


Source:www.informationng.com/2014/10/boko-haram-military-begins-trial-of-59-soldiers-accused-of-mutiny-insubordination.html