The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday said it would not plead with the Nigerian Army to spare the lives of 12 soldiers recently sentenced to death for mutiny.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, George Sekibo, said this in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the nation’s service chiefs. The service chiefs were led to the high-profile meeting, which lasted over three hours, by the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh. Briefing journalists after the meeting, Mr. Sekibo said the senate was not under pressure to intervene to save the lives of the soldiers because the judgment convicting them was in the best interest of the Nigerian military.
“No we are not (under pressure) because the Armed Forces is established by an Act of the National Assembly. The Act spelt out categorically the conduct of soldiers and the way they are to behave wherever they are. If you join the military that Act is to guide you and your conduct. If you go contrary to any of the prescribed sections of the Act the punishment prescribed for the Act you violated will come on you. So the military did not just wake up one day and say that they are going to kill Mr A or Mr B. They (military) went through the necessary processes and they found them guilty,” he said. The committee chairman however said that those found guilty could go on appeal and the rulings from the appeal would be binding on them. “But I think that those found guilty also have a way out. They can go on appeal and if the appeal finds them not guilty that will be it. But for what the military has done, they have done the best thing because you must instil discipline in the Armed Forces. If you don’t do so, one day all of us here will be sacked and you will not hear of this place again,” he said.
Mr. Sekibo called on Nigerians to encourage the military to ensure that it discharged its duties effectively. The 12 Nigerian soldiers were on September 16, sentenced to death for mutiny after firing shots at their commanding officer, Abubakar Mohammed, in Maiduguri on May 14. A nine-member military tribunal, sitting in Abuja, convicted the soldiers. Court president Chukwuemeka Okonkwo said the sentences were subject to confirmation by Nigeria’s military authorities but added there was no doubt about the gravity of the offence.
However, while the Senate believes the soldiers deserve to die, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, is pleading with the Nigerian Army to lighten the death sentence.
(NAN)
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