Revelations by Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, former Chief of Defence Staff, could just be the key to open the gates of freedom for Nigeria’s soldiers condemned to death
EROMOSELE EBHOMELE
Maybe it was a case of pricking conscience, but Alex Badeh, the number one service chief, who, until 30 July, was Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, did not win the hearts of Nigerians with his valedictory speech which many believe he wanted to use in selling himself. Many wondered why he was just coming out to speak the obvious when he had all the opportunity, while in service, to right the wrong. Many called for his head while some painted him in dark colours. In all, his speech at his official pulling-out parade after serving the Nigerian military for 38 years, renewed hopes that scores of the country’s condemned soldiers could fight their way out of the death penalty slammed on them by a military court-martial. In his words: “For the first time, I was head of a military that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy that was invisible and embedded with the local populace.
Accused of mutiny and, at a time, cowardice, some of the soldiers, separately tried, are all to face firing squad for alleged refusal to confront the Boko Haram insurgents that have held sway in some states in the northern part of the country. In one case, on 17 December, 2014, a general court-martial sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, sentenced 54 soldiers to death after finding them guilty of mutiny. Those condemned include Corporals, Lance Corporals, Privates and other such officers.
On the roll were Oton Asuabiat, Nwachukwu Udo, Ibrahim Saliu, Abafe Sylvester, Eze Isaac, Abubakar Mohammed, Samuel Machael, Ishaya Musa, Etim Peter, Hermas Okpe, Ahunanya Temple, Ilesanmi S., Solomon Ishaku, Nasiru Zubairu, Audu Daniel, Muhammed Abubakar, Anas Awalu, Babangida Jamilu, Hashiu Ibrahim, Mohammed Suleiman, Shehu Sa’adu; Andrew Ogolekwu, Saturday Ife; Henry Shaibu, James Maifada, Ndubisi Sabestine, Dauda Dalhatu, Kasega Aoso, Nwonu Friday, Joshua Frida, Anthony Simeon, Olayode oluwasegun, Tijjani Jimoh, Kabiru Abubakar, Mamuda Sywasan, James Emmanuel, Mukaila Musa, Magaji Ahmadu, Amao Bukola, Wuyep John, Oti Kelvin, Ameh Mathew, Olaitan Joseph, Kulukulu Endurance, Usman Isaac, Ocheje Williams, Adila Dangana, Sunday Godwin, Datti Hassan, Abubakar Garba, Joseph Dauda, Chiemela Azubuike, Abubakar Mohammed, Anagu Mark, and Danbaba Francis.
Another 12 soldiers were condemned for attempting to kill their commanding officer in a mad rage that came over them following an ambush by Boko Haram members leading to the death of their colleagues in the restive northeast city of Maiduguri. The soldiers concluded that they were sold out by their commanding officer especially with information of saboteurs in the military who divulged military intelligence and strategies to the enemies.
Those condemned in this case were Cpl. Jasper Braidolor, Cpl. David Musa, Lance Cpl. Friday Onun, Lance Cpl. Yusuf Shuaibu, Lance Cpl. Igomu Emmanuel and Pte. Andrew Ngbede, Pte. Nurudeen Ahmed, Pte. Ifeanyi Alukhagbe, Pte. Alao Samuel, Pte. Amadi Chukwudi, Pte. Allan Linus and Lance Cpl. Stephen Clement. Five others escaped the sentence. They were Cpl. David Luhbut, Cpl. Muhammed Sani, Pte. Iseh Ubong, Pte. Sabastine Gwaba and Pte. Inama Samuel were freed while one, Pte. Ichocho Jeremiah, was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment with hard labour for being absent without official leave.
In condemning these soldiers arraigned on a six-court charge bordering on inciting mutiny against Maj-Gen. Ahmed Mohammed, the GOC, 7 Division, Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, on 14 May, 2014, the court’s presiding officer, Brigadier General Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, said the sentences were subject to the confirmation by country’s military authorities especially as the gravity of the offence could not be swept under the carpet.
While their trial went on, the soldiers, including those not affected, but who stole time out to report anonymously to journalists, maintained that they all lacked the necessary equipment to effectively tackle insurgency. They insisted, and still insist, that the insurgents were better armed with advanced weapons while the Nigerian troops were made to carry AK-47 and its likes with only a handful of bullets. There were serious complaints of low morale and sell out by colleagues and sometimes, superiors.
Their arguments were confirmed by events that unfolded before and even after the court-martial. There were more cases of ambush on troops and death of many more soldiers. The month before the death sentence was passed on the 12 soldiers, some soldiers vehemently refused being deployed to fight the terrorists. They set up camps on the way rather than head straight to the battlefield. In what could be termed an unprecedented embarrassment against the nation, wives of soldiers also demonstrated at the gate of a military base in Maiduguri to stop their husbands from heading to Gwoza, without proper equipment. Gwoza was later overrun by the Boko Haram. Video footages of soldiers escaping trouble spots also surfaced online.
A report also exposed how an army Colonel and some junior officers and soldiers sabotaged the effort of their institution in Adamawa state, part of the north-eastern states that faced heavy attacks from the insurgents. According to the report which quoted top military sources, the Army Colonel whose name was not revealed but who was arrested, was commanding a team of three Armoured Personnel Carriers with the capability to fire up to a range of 1.5kilometres or even more. Between Gulak and Madagali while the troop was on its way to fight some Boko Haram members, however, the commanding officer asked his ‘boys’ to set the Armoured Personnel Carriers ablaze and disappear.
With various evidences to prove that the junior officers were right in their complaints and demands, Nigerians rose in their defence with many calling for their unconditional release and trial of their superiors, instead, for crimes against humanity and for intentionally sending the soldiers on a suicide mission.
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, took up the battle for the affected soldiers, calling the attention of the international community to their plight in the hands of those supposed to provide the conducive environment for the soldiers to work effectively. First he described the death sentence passed on the 54 soldiers by an army court-martial as not good for the country and humanity. His argument was that these soldiers, the second batch to be sentenced to death at that period, were sent on suicide mission by army authorities that ill-equipped and poorly motivated them.
“The soldiers were in the SF 111 Batallion which has 174 instead of 750 soldiers. The soldiers in the Batallion were neither equipped nor motivated. They are young men whose ages range between 21 and 25. Most of them joined the army in 2012. With little or no training whatsoever, they were deployed to fight the dreaded Boko Haram sect,” the lawyer said.
He accused the army hierarchy of diverting funds allocated for payment of salaries and allowances of soldiers and for purchase of arms and ammunition.
“Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification,” he added.
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