The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has condemned the Nigerian Senate for showing blind eyes to the predicament of the 12 soldiers sentenced to death by a military tribunal after being convicted of mutiny.
The condemnation, which was made at the congress, was contained in a statement jointly issued on Thursday, by its President and Secretary, Bobboi Kaigama and Musa Lawal.
The congress faulted the decision by the Senate not to intervene in the case of the condemned soldiers, on the ground that the circumstances that led to the reported incident was enough to spark such, and therefore the punishment to be meted on them should have been considered.
It further stated that any contrary view on the case would amount to nothing but sheer wickedness and a clear example of man’s insensitivity and inhumanity to man. It condemned the fact the military tribunal issued such sentence on ill-equipped gallant soldiers who battled terrorists with unequalled bravery.
The congress described as amazing that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Thompson Sekibo, declared that the Senate would not intervene because the penalty is as prescribed in the Military Act and must be carried out to maintain discipline.
“We ordinarily might have agreed with the senator if the soldiers’ mutinous acts and refusal to fight had been informed by cowardice, but the undisputed evidence adduced and reported show that they are all brave, willing combatants who only requested that they be sufficiently equipped for the task at hand and protested the avoidable death of their buddies because of the negligence, recalcitrance and misjudgement of their commanding officer,” the statement read.
The congress pointed out that instead of executing such a wicked sentence on the soldiers, the military should have probed the case at hand and proffers lasting solution to the challenges confronting Nigerian soldiers in the fight against insurgents.
It also requested that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in question should be court-marshaled for indiscipline and for not given the soldiers appropriate weapons to fight Boko Haram.
The congress also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use his prerogative of mercy to pardon the convicted soldiers, reiterating that no military official should be punished for protesting or refusing to do a job for which his master denied him necessary tools.
The congress warned that if the death sentenced is carried out, it could demoralise other soldiers, and stated that instead a sentence of two years imprisonment could be passed on them. It urged Defence Headquarters to reverse the tribunal’s judgment in favour of the convicted soldiers.
It would be recalled that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Thompson Sekibo, had on Tuesday disclosed that the Senate would not intervene in the case of the convicted soldiers because the penalty is as prescribed in the Military Act and must be carried out to maintain discipline.
Meanwhile, on September 24, Ameh Ebute, a former senate president filed an appeal to stop the execution of six of the 12 soldiers sentenced to death by the Nigerian Military Tribunal, after being found guilty of mutiny.
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