Jonathan"s administration responsible for soldiers mutiny - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of deliberately provoking Nigerian soldiers into mutiny by its actions and turning round to arrest and prosecute the soldiers.

Jonathan and Buhari

He said the past administration, while fighting terrorists, sent soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition.

Buhari made the accusation in an interview he granted the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation and monitored by The PUNCH.

He said his administration’s investigation into the activities of the immediate past government revealed that instead of procuring arms and ammunition for the soldiers, funds meant for the equipment were shared by government officials.

He said, “We investigated and discovered how funds that were pencilled down for arms procurement were diverted and shared by government officials who served the last administration.

“The government at that time sent the soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition to prosecute the war. That was what led some of them to mutiny. They were arrested and detained because of this.”

Despite the December deadline he had earlier given the military to end terrorism in the affected part of the country, Buhari admitted that the country might not win the war completely by the end of the month.

He however said a lot of progress had been made by the military.

He said the terrorists themselves were aware that they could no longer take over communities and local governments like they were doing under the past administration.

“If people are going to be fair to us, they themselves know that the Army is winning the war. You can no longer find any huge number of Boko Haram members in Adamawa and Yobe; only may be, in about three local governments of Borno in the area around our borders with Chad Republic. They are no longer in position to threaten the country, so we have won,” he added.

Justifying the arrest and ongoing prosecution of arms scandal suspects, Buhari said the government would use documents that were already in its possession to prove to the courts that the suspects stole.

He added that their ill-gotten wealth would be confiscated and they would be jailed.

On the economy, the President said out of the nation’s N2.2tn debt, his administration inherited N1.5tn domestic debt while foreign debt accounted for N0.7tn.

He restated his position that Nigeria was not poor, but said the country was rich, lamenting that corruption remained the bane of development.

The President added that that was why his administration had been busy plugging the leakages in the revenue-generating agencies such as the Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation among others.

He explained that the money saved from the exercise would be properly utilised to run the country, especially in this era of dwindling oil price.

On the N5,000 monthly his administration promised to make available to the unemployed and the most vulnerable Nigerians, Buhari admitted that not all those who were in need of the money would get it.

He said governments at all levels would collaborate to identify those who would benefit.

In his reaction on Sunday, however, Jonathan said he didn’t plan to lose the Boko Haram war as being suggested by Buhari’s comments.

Rather, he said he tried to protect the constitution, which he said he sworn to defend when he assumed office.

The former President spoke through his Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, in a text message sent to one of our correspondents.

The former minister said the ex-President did everything within his power to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

He said, “No responsible government would strategise to loose a war. President Jonathan sworn to defend Nigeria sovereignty and territorial integrity and he did everything possible to achieve that height in the fight against the insurgents.

“It is unfair therefore for Mr President to perceive such efforts by his predecessor as criminal and treasonable.

“The President should, in an attempt to build this country, make such pronouncements that would further unite us as a people than that those that would divide us. Posterity will judge everybody.”

Jonathan"s administration responsible for soldiers mutiny - Buhari

54 soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny

By Kingsley Omonobi

ABUJA—The General Court Martial sitting at the Army Headquarters Garrison in Abuja yesterday sentenced 54 soldiers to death after finding them guilty of mutiny. 59 soldiers were on trial on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny.

Four of them were however acquitted.

Soldiers on trial

While the judgment was going on, stern looking soldiers posted at the entry gate into the Mogadishu Barracks, turned back journalists saying they had instructions not to allow the media into the barracks.

An officer who was at the Court Martial however confirmed that 54 of the 59 soldiers were sentenced to death. The 59 soldiers who were serving in the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno state, allegedly refused lawful orders by their commander to proceed on a mission to clear out terrorists and secure a town for subsequent military deployments.

All the soldiers had pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them at the commencement of the trial last October. The soldiers are the second batch of Nigerian soldiers condemned to death by Nigerian Military courts for mutiny.

The soldiers, attached to the 7 Division, Nigerian Army in Maiduguri include two Corporals, Cpl, nine Lance Corporals, LCpl and 49 Private soldiers. According to the charge against them, they conspired to commit mutiny against the authorities of the 7 Division on August 4, at the Mulai Primary School camp, opposite AIT Maiduguri, Borno State.

The prosecutor, Captain J.E. Nwosu, told the military court that the accused soldiers had on August 4, in Maiduguri, refused to join the 111 Special Forces Battalion troops, commanded by Timothy Opurum, a Lieutenant Colonel for an 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. The statement of the commander was admitted by the court and marked Exhibit P1.

Mr. Opurum, in his testimony in October, 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 represented the accused soldiers, Mr. Opurum said 47 of the soldiers who initially refused, later re-joined the forces for another operation.

Mr. Opurum said the 47 soldiers joined, after he called for reinforcement, as they came under attack from terrorists, who out-numbered them and had superior weapons.

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54 soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny

12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny

A military court-martial has sentenced 12 Nigerian soldiers to death after they were found guilty of committing mutiny in Maiduguri, Borno State last May.

Soldiers on trial

On 14th May 2014, a group of soldiers fired shots at Maj-Gen Ahmadu Mohammed, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 7th Division, at Maiduguri’s Maimalari Barracks.

The soldiers became angry when they saw the bodies of 12 of their colleagues being brought back from Chibok, where they were killed by militants who ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning from anti-terrorism duties.

The mutineers shot several times into the air and called senior officers “cowards”, accusing them of deliberately putting them in harm’s way.

The following day, the GOC of the barracks was removed.

However, the court martial, which was led by Brigadier-General Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, sitting at Mogadishu Cantonment in Abuja from Monday night to Tuesday morning sentenced 12 of the 18 soldiers to death by firing squad,

The 12 soldiers were pronounced guilty of the offences of mutiny and criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny are Cpl Jasper Braidolor, Cpl David Musa, LCpl Friday Onun, LCpl Yusuf Shuaibu, LCpl Igomu Emmanuel, Pte Andrew Ngbede, Pte Nurudeen Ahmed, Pte Ifeanyi Alukhagbe, Pte Alao Samuel, Pte Amadi Chukwudi, Pte Allan Linus, and LCpl Stephen Clement

The court martial found five other soldiers innocent of all five counts of insubordinate behaviour, false accusation, mutiny, AWOL and conduct to the prejudice of service discipline. Therefore, they were discharged and acquitted.

The five acquitted soldiers are Cpl David Luhbut, Cpl Muhammed Sani, Pte Iseh Ubong, Pte Sabastine Gwaba and Pte Inama Samuel.

The 18th soldier, Privatwe Ichocho Jeremiah, was found guilty of going AWOL (absent without leave) and he was sentenced to 28 days in prison with hard labour.

Jeremiah was also found guilty of conduct to the prejudice of service discipline, but he was only reprimanded for this offence.

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12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny