16 November 2009
Abuja — A few months ago, the Army Council decided to commute the sentences passed on the soldiers who were tried by a court martial and convicted for mutiny because they protested against the non-payment of their salaries and allowances by the military authorities while they were away on peace-keeping mission outside the country.
While appreciating the exigencies of military law and the consequences it exacts on such protests, which are normally labelled as either rebellion or mutiny, we received the news of the commuting of the sentences from life imprisonment to seven years in jail with relief and belief that the Nigerian military is gradually updating itself to the realities of civil democratic rule in the country.
This was further made explicit when the particular military officers who were fingered as responsible for the non-payment of the soldiers' salaries and allowances were removed from service by the authorities. This is a pointer to the fact that the concept of equality before the law as a central pivot of democracy is fast gaining ground within the nation's armed forces.
However, we view the retirement from service of those officers whose conduct in the first place precipitated the uprising, and thereby inflicting hurt on the soldiers and shame on the integrity of the military as very light compared to prison sentence for the soldiers who protested their ill treatement. The officers only got the boot by their compulsory retirement, perhaps with full benefits.
While appreciating the technicalities of the military as an institution on whose shoulders the defence of the nation against internal and external aggression rests, we are optimistic that justice done is capable of boosting troop morale, enforcing greater discipline on both officers and men and therefore repositioning the armed forces to meet the growing challenges of not just national defence but, more importantly as the major vanguard in the democratic enterprise.
We call on the military authorities to go a little further by possibly commuting the sentences further down and converting the dismissal of the soldiers into honourable discharge so that they may enjoy the benefit of the selfless service to their fatherland.
We are of the conviction that given the calibre of the nation's military high command, it is possible to obtain justice and fairness. The Chief of Army Staff is particularly invited to have reconsideration on the cases of these soldiers so they may regain freedom as soon as possible.
There is no purpose served by continuing to impose the harsh sentences that the Army impose. We have in the past called attention of the military authorities and the approving body of the extenuating circumstances in which the convicted soldiers were forced to embark on their protests. In fact, the sentences for both the mutinous soldiers and the officers who withholding of the allowances led to their action should have been reversed, with the superior officers being given the harsher of then sentence.
We think justice has not been served, if the current situation is allowed to stand, and the sooner it is reviewed, the better for the Army and the nation in general.
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