DON'T LET MILITARY EXECUTE CONVICTED SOLDIERS, SENATOR OJUDU PLEADS

Senator Ojudu

A member of the Senate Committee on Defence and Army, Babafemi Ojudu, has appealed to the committee to canvass for the commutation of the death sentence passed this week on twelve soldiers of the Nigerian Army for mutiny.
The convicted soldiers who were fighting Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State had on 14 May fired on the convoy of the commanding officer of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, General Amadu Mohammed, at an army medical centre in Maiduguri in protest of lack of adequate weapons to confront Boko Haram. On the contrary, the insurgents are said to be armed with rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft weapons sometimes mounted on armoured personnel carriers.
Some wives of soldiers had also protested, saying a stop should be put to their husbands being killed like chickens in the hands of the better armed Boko Haram.
However, on Monday, a nine-member military tribunal sentenced the erring soldiers to death for what it called mutiny.
In a letter dated 17 September, 2014 to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence and Army, George Sekkibo, a copy of which was also sent to Senate President David Mark, Ojudu contended that the actions of the erring soldiers was brought about by the "dwindling fortunes of the Nigerian Army over the years", which had lowered the morale of soldiers drastically.
He said though he was aware of the rules of engagement in the military as regards mutiny, allowing the soldiers to be executed would further lower the morale of other soldiers.
In the letter made available to newsmen, Ojudu wrote:
"Allowing these frustrated soldiers to die for their action is like treating the symptoms of our disease rather than going into the root cause of our problems which is low morale arising from inadequate training, provision of modern equipment and deficit in welfare".
Ojudu, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Service and Establishment, urged the committee on Defence and Army to as a matter of urgency seek clemency for the soldiers.