₦airaland Forum

Yesterday, the General Court-Martial sitting in
Abuja which tried another batch of 59 soldiers for
conspiracy to mutiny and mutiny convicted 54 of
the accused persons and sentenced them to death
while 5 were discharged and acquitted. The
acquittal was designed to give the false impression
that the dubious verdict was fair and just. The
soldiers were in the SF 111 Batallion which has
174 instead of 750 soldiers. The soldiers in the
Batallion were neither equipped nor motivated.
They are young men whose ages range between
21 and 25. Most of them joined the army in 2012.
With little or no training whatsoever they were
deployed to fight the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
The funds allocated for payment of the salaries
and allowances of the soldiers and for purchase of
arms and ammunition are usually diverted and
cornered by corrupt military officers. Instead of
bringing such unpatriotic officers to book the
military authorities have engaged in the
diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent
soldiers by sentencing them to death without any
legal justification.
On July 9, 2014 the Boko Haram sect launched a
ferocious attack on the Batallion. As the soldiers
were ill-equipped and ill-motivated the well armed
terrorists killed 3 officers and 23 soldiers and
inflicted serious injuries on 82 others. While
sympathizing with the bereaved soldiers the army
authorities assured them that adequate weapons
would be provided to match the sophisticated
weapons of the Boko Haram sect. But without the
provision of the said weapons the soldiers were
ordered on August 4, 2014 to recapture Delwa,
Balubulin and Damboa in Borno State from the
Boko Haram terrorists. The soldiers demanded for
weapons so as not to lose more officers and men
in the circumstance. A few soldiers who embarked
on the suicidal mission together with the
Commanding Officer were ambushed by the Boko
Haram troops.
When some weapons were made available on
August 8, 2014, the soldiers moved to the
battlefront, dislodged the satanic Boko Haram sect
and liberated their captured colleagues and
officers. They were commended for their bravery
and sacrifice. But for some inexplicable reasons,
the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be
charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the
armed forces to embarrassment by asking for
weapons! Thus, 60 soldiers were charged before
the court-martial led by Brigadier-General M.
Yusuf. The charge was however withdrawn against
one of them on health ground. When the trial
commenced against the remaining 59 the court-
martial allowed defense correspondents and
reporters to cover the proceedings. But the
revealing testimonies of the prosecution witnesses
embarrassed the army authorities.
In particular, the defence pointed out that by not
providing the soldiers with adequate weapons the
Federal Government had violated Section 217 (2)
(b) of the Constitution which provides that the
Federation shall, subject to an Act of the National
Assembly made in that behalf, equip and maintain
the armed forces as may be considered adequate
and effective for the purpose of maintaining its
territorial integrity and securing its borders from
violation on land, sea or air.
It is public knowledge that it was when the trial of
the soldiers was in progress that the President and
Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, sought and obtained the
approval of the National Assembly for a loan of
USD$1 billion to purchase equipment for the
prosecution of the war on terror. Up till now, the
loan has not been utilized for the purchase of
weapons!
It was on the basis of such revelation that the
court-martial resorted to sitting in camera and
prohibited the media from further reporting the
proceedings. In the judgment delivered yesterday
the court-martial refused to consider the evidence
led in court and convicted 54 of the soldiers for
having the temerity to ask for weapons to carry
out the task of defending the territorial integrity of
the nation. Since the soldiers were justified in
refusing to commit suicide the verdict which is
characterized by gross miscarriage of justice will
not stand. Apart from the fact that the Prosecution
did not lead any scintilla of evidence to prove the
2-count charge of conspiracy and mutiny against
any of the convicts the Court-martial did not
consider the defence of the soldiers in any material
particular.
Convinced that soldiers who made a legitimate
demand for equipment to fight the insurgents
cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be properly
convicted for mutiny we shall take all necessary
legal measures to prevent the army authorities
from giving effect to the genocidal verdict of the
court-martial. We submit that the oath of allegiance
taken by the accused soldiers is not a license to
commit suicide. It is a solemn undertaking to
defend the nation based on the expectation that the
Federal Government would have complied with
Section 217 of the Constitution on the mandatory
requirement to equip the armed forces adequately.
It is important to state that when equipment was
made available on 18 August 2014, the accused
soldiers fought gallantly.


Femi Falana SAN.


http://saharareporters.com/2014/12/18/halt-genocidal-elimination-nigerian-soldiers-femi-falana

yes ooooo
we still need more men to combat boko haram

Smh

holatin:
yes ooooo
we still need more men to combat boko haram

wtf I swear you didn't read this thread! Smh

Do these military authorities have conscience at all?