Sixty-Six Soldiers Are Not To Face Death Penalty Again.

The Army authorities announced, yesterday, that the sixty-six soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny and other offences had been commuted to terms of ten years imprisonment.

The charge said the soldiers attached to the 7 Division, conspired to commit mutiny, saying they refused to join 111 Special Forces Battalion, led by Colonel E.A. Aladeniyi, to the Maimalari Barracks for an operation (against Boko Haram fighters).

                                  

The mutinous soldiers had blamed the GOC and other officers for the death of four of their colleagues allegedly ambushed while on a special operation against Boko Haram in Kalabalge LGA, near Chibok, Borno State; where over 200 school girls were abducted by terrorists in April, last year.

“The death sentences by firing squad, passed on 66 soldiers in January and March, 2015, by separate General Court Martials (GCMs) have been commuted to 10 years imprisonment each”, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Usman Sani, said yesterday.

After the sentencing of 12 soldiers to death for shooting at a vehicle conveying the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Borno State, Major-General Ahmed Mohammed, the Army authorities, on October 2, 2014, at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Garrison, inaugurated another nine-man GCM to try about 100 soldiers.

The soldiers were charged with offences ranging from mutiny to assault, misconduct and tampering with military property.

Of the lot, 77 were accused of committing mutiny, punishable by death.