Constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday implored the Army Council to commute the death sentence passed on 12 soldiers by the General Court Martial to imprisonment instead of confirming it.

According to him, while the soldiers were erroneously charged under section 52(1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 because the General Officer Commanding whose car was shot at was not killed, they were charged with attempted murder which does not attract the death penalty.

In its judgement on Monday, the General Court Martial which tried the group of 18 soldiers for act of mutiny in Maiduguri, Borno State on May 14, 2014 discharged and acquitted five of the soldiers, jailed one for 28 days and convicted the remaining 12 and sentenced them death, after finding them guilty of criminal conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder, insubordination to a particular order and false accusation.

But in a statement he issued yesterday evening, Falana noted that in the interest of justice, the facts and circumstance of the mutinous act of the convicted soldiers should be taken into consideration.

He also advised the 12 condemned soldiers that should the decision in the case is confirmed by the Army Council, the convicted soldiers should take the case to the Court of Appeal which is likely to follow its decision in a similar case.

“While mutiny cannot be condoned by the armed forces because it strikes at the foundation of discipline in the military it ought to be pointed out that the 18 soldiers were erroneously charged under section 52(1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. Fortunately, the General Officer Commanding whose car was shot at was not killed. Hence, the soldiers were charged with attempted murder which does not attract the death penalty”, he noted.

Accordingly, the legal luminary pointed out that the 12 convicts should have been charged under section 52(2) of the Armed Forces Act which provides for life imprisonment, just like in the case of the Akure 27 in which the convicted soldiers were equally charged with mutiny but convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He said, “Before the incident the soldiers at the Maimalari cantonment had complained of insufficient ammunition, food and allowances. The visit of the GOC was said to have coincided with the arrival of the corpses of soldiers killed in an ambush in Chibok on the night of May 13, 2014. It was the tragic situation which reportedly infuriated the soldiers. Having investigated and confirmed the circumstances which led to the mutiny in question the military authorities removed the GOC.

“In the light of the foregoing, we urge the Army Council not to confirm the death sentence passed on the 12 soldiers but commute same to imprisonment in the interest of Justice. The facts and circumstance of the mutinous act of the convicted soldiers should be taken into consideration”.

Falana noted further that in the case of Akure 27, the Army Council reduced the sentence of life imprisonment to 7 years and later pardoned the convicts after taking into cognizance the fact that the allowances of the convicts who had served in Liberia were diverted by some military officers.

Advising the soldiers to appeal is their sentence is not commuted, he said, “However, if the death sentence of the Maiduguri 12 is confirmed by the Army Council the convicted soldiers are advised to take the case to the Court of Appeal which is likely to follow its decision in the case of Yussuf & 21 Ors v Nigerian Army (2003) 36 WRN 68 wherein the sentence of life imprisonment passed on the appellants who had rioted at the Cairo Airport in Egypt was quashed.

“It was the finding of the Court that the offense of mutiny complained of by the respondent was instigated by the officers who had diverted the medical allowances which ought to have been paid to the convicts while receiving medical treatment in Egypt.”

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