As controversy continues to follow the death sentence passed on September 16 2014 by the General Court Martial on 12 soldiers, more soldiers are soon to be arraigned for similar charges, as the military authorities embark upon a process to sanitise the army.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY recalls that the General Court Martial, under the leadership of Brigadier General CC Okonkwo, sentenced 12 soldiers to death by firing squad for attempting to kill the then commander, 7 Division of the army, General Ahmadu Mohammed, an offence that amounted to mutiny.
While the military authorities said the verdict was constitutional since their trial followed due process, as all the convicted and those discharged and acquitted were given a fair trial, a section of the human rights community has vowed not to allow their execution.
Despite the stiff opposition to the sentence, investigations show that some soldiers, who have been indicted by one panel or the other in some army formations, are about to be brought to Abuja to face similar charges.
“We have our laws that guide all our actions and any officer who breaks any would face the consequences. Those who are trying to discredit the trial of those 12 that were convicted are not helping the military and the country. Discipline makes the military and without that, even the people are not safe,” a serving general at the Defence Headquarters said.
According to him, there were still other soldiers in different army formations that were yet to be brought for trial, saying that would be done as soon as practicable.
“There is a need for sanity in the military, especially in a time like this. Imagine a situation where soldiers were asked to go for an operation and some are disobeying orders. Some even dropped their arms during the operation and ran away. What kind of soldiers are they?
“Some would be saying they wanted to go and do UN peacekeeping operations, where they would be given hard currencies. All these are not acceptable in the military. This cannot continue. In the military, officers literally think for the soldiers, but some people are using the media to preach the reversal of that order. This is absolutely impossible,” he said.
Although speculated that some of the suspects had been brought to Moghadisu Barracks, Abuja, where those convicted were tried, the army authorities have debunked the claim.
“It is true some soldiers have committed one crime or the other, which was against the military laws in various formations nationwide, but none of them has been brought to Abuja for trial. A new General Army Court Martial has not been inaugurated and once this is done, the media would be told,” the spokesman for the Army Headquarters Garrison, Col Aliyu Yusuf explained.
In a related development, investigation has shown that another problem confronting the ongoing counter-insurgency effort is the fact that the Boko Haram sect is using arms belonging to the troops to fight them, thanks to the activities of some unscrupulous saboteurs in the military.
A serving general, who made this disclosure explained that although the military had more than enough to contain the terrorists, some saboteurs within were helping those who want to balkanise the country to arm themselves at the expense of the military.
Criticism siuggesting that the Bko Haram terrorists were better armed than the military was faulted when the general presented pictures of impounded arms and ammunition recovered from the sect yesterday.
Not a few of the political elite, including the governor of Borno State, Ibrahim Shettima, have accused the government of poor funding of the troops and recently, President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to ask the National Assembly to approve funds for him to purchase arms for the military.
But in an interaction with three generals during the week in Abuja, they explained in detail how military arms find their way into the hands of the Boko Haram terrorists, which they in turn use against the Nigerian troops.
According to them:
There are some saboteurs within the military who disclose to the terrorists where the arms are kept and they encourage them to burgle the stores and cart away them.
Some of the soldiers, either consciously or unconsciously, get to the war front, become ‘vegetables’, abandone their arms. The terrorists collect them and use them to fight the troops.
Some saboteurs, for whatever reason, take some of the arms and exchange them for money with the insurgents.
Boko Haram insurgents get only a handful of their arms from their international colleagues like Al Qaeda.
Responding to why they had not made the information known to the public, one of the generals said, “It is a shame to be telling these kinds of stories to the public. This is why we stopped publishing the pictures of the arms recovered from the terrorists, because you would see the insignia of the Nigerian Army on them.”