Eleven soldiers will face a six-count charge including
committing mutiny.
The Nigerian Army has court–martialed 18 soldiers for
attempted murder and mutiny in Maimalari cantonment,Maiduguri.
In an internal memo seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the
Commander, Army Headquarter Garrison, B.T
Ndiomu, ordered the General Court Martial, GCM, to be
presided by C.C Okonkwo, a Brigadier General.
Mr. Ndiomu, who is also a Brigadier General, had
ordered that a GCM be assembled at the garrison’s
conference hall on June 26.
The GCM is made up of seven members, two waiting
members, a judge advocate and two prosecuting officers.
Others include: a liaison officer, a contact officer, two
officers authorized to sign any amendment convening
officer and eight other soldiers who form a court
secretariat.
The 18 soldiers are to be court-martialed for an incident
that occurred in May at the barracks On May 14, some
soldiers, angered by the death of 12 of their colleagues in
a Boko Haram ambush, opened fire on the vehicle of the
General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division of the
Nigerian Army, Ahmadu Mohammed.
The soldiers blamed Mr. Mohammed for the death of
their colleagues killed in the ambush.
Sources had told PREMIUM TIMES that the soldiers were
ambushed while on a special operation in Kalabalge
Local Government Area where locals on the Tuesday
morning killed about 150 insurgents and arrested 10
others.
After the operation, during which some military
equipment were recovered from the insurgents, the
soldiers who had arrived the council, at night were asked
to return to Maiduguri.
The soldiers reportedly pleaded to be allowed to return
to Maiduguri the next morning, as the night trip would
be too risky.
Their request was allegedly turned down and the troop
had to drive to Maiduguri at night.
“Those commanding the troop declined their request to
pass the night in one of the villages on the grounds that
the top ranks at the headquarters of the 7 Division would
not be pleased if they don’t go back to Maiduguri that
night,” said a ranking soldier, who sought anonymity.
The 7 Division, recently formed, is located in Maiduguri,
the capital of the troubled Borno State.
But half way through their journey, they ran into a Boko
Haram ambush and 12 of them got killed while some
others were injured, sources said.
The military later claimed that only four soldiers died in
the ambush, before it increased the figure to six.
The survivors, in what seemed a vengeance mission,
opened fire on their commander, Mr. Mohammed, when
they eventually arrived in Maiduguri.
Mr. Mohammed, a Major General, was immediately
redeployed to another command which the military did
not reveal.
However, in its version of the attack on the GOC, the
military said the soldiers did not shoot at their
commander.
“The fact of the matter is that troops on patrol around
Chibok were ambushed by insurgents yesterday. Troops
engaged the insurgents in a fierce combat and extricated
themselves from the ambush killing several insurgents.
“Four soldiers however lost their lives during the
ambush.
“On evacuation of the remains of the fallen troops, the
General Officer Commanding addressed the troops who
registered their anger about the incident by firing into
the air,” the military spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, a
Major General, had said in a statement.
The Nigerian Army, however, instituted a military board
of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the
conduct of soldiers who fired some shots.
In a charge sheet signed by Mr. Ndiomu on June 28, it
was specified that 11 of the soldiers are being charged
with criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny among
others.
These eleven soldiers are facing a six-count charge of
committing mutiny, criminal conspiracy to commit
mutiny, attempted murder, disobedience to particular
orders, insubordinate behaviour contrary to and
punishable under the law, and false accusation.
The charge sheet read that the soldiers inspired other
military personnel of the 101 battalion to commit mutiny
and also accused E. Azenda, a Lieutenant colonel who is
the Second in Command of the 101 battalion of
conspiring with other officers to kill the soldiers.
One of the charges read “that you between 13 and 14 May
2014 at Maimalari cantonment in Maiduguri fired
sporadically with the intent to incite other personnel of
101 battalion against the authority of 7 Division Below are names of the accused soldiers, their ranks and
service numbers:
96NA/ 42/6235 Cpl Jasper Braidolor
96NA/ 43/ 10277 Cpl David Musa
05NA/ 57/ 3451 LCpl Friday Onun
09NA/ 64/ 4905 LCpl Yusuf Shuaibu
09NA/ 62/ 1648 LCpl Igono Emmanuel
09NA/ 64/ 4214 Pte Andrew Ngbede
10NA/ 65/ 8344 Pte Nurudeen Ahmed
10NA/ 65/ 7084 Pte Ifeanyi Alukhagbe
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Alao Samuel
13NA/ 69/ 2907 Pte Amadi Chukwudi
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Allan Linus
The other seven soldiers also court-martialed but yet to
be charged are:
93NA/ 36/ 1542 Cpl David Luhbut
97NA/ 45/ 7423 Cpl Muhammed Sani
03NA/ 53/ 816 Lcpl Stephen Clement
09NA/ 62/ 1648 Inama Samuel
09NA/ 64/ 5858 Iseh Ubong
10NA/ 65/ 6912 Ichocho Jeremiah
10NA/ 65/ 7343 Sabastine Gwaba. Maiduguri mutiny: Nigerian Army court-martials 18 soldiers http:///