September 25, 2014 – The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to halt imminent execution of the 12 convicted soldiers by pardoning them, stressing that they should not be punished for refusing to fight without provision of necessary weapons.
The TUC made this clarification in a statement signed by President and Secretary of the union, Comrades Bobboi Kaigama and Musa Lawal respectively.
“President Jonathan should step in and exercise his prerogative of mercy by pardoning the convicted soldiers. No servant (or even slave), military or no military, should be punished for protesting or refusing to do a job for which his master denied him necessary tools”, the TUC said.
The TUC said it found it unacceptable that the Senate said it will not intervene in the sentence since it was carried out by a military tribunal.
“The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria disagrees with the Senate over its position, expressed on Tuesday, on the case of the 12 soldiers who were recently convicted for mutiny and sentenced to death by a military tribunal.
“It is bad enough that the military tribunal issued such a sentence against ill-equipped gallant soldiers who battled the sect with unequalled bravery, but worse and totally bewildering that Thompson Sekibo, a senator in a civilian cum democratic government, and Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Defence, 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”, the union noted.
The congress is of the view that it would not have been an issue if the mutinous acts and refusal to fight was an act of 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 misjudgment of their commanding officer”, the TUC said, adding that the circumstances that prompted the soldiers’ alleged offences are weighty enough to serve as mitigating factors in the consideration of any punishment to be meted out to them.
“Any contrary view would amount to nothing but sheer wickedness and a clear example of man’s insensitivity and inhumanity to man.
“To the best of our knowledge the soldiers’ grievances stemmed from the fact that the military top brass failed to adequately equip them with the right quality and quantity of weapons, ammunitions and other equipment for the war against the Boko Haram insurgents that they were ordered to fight.
“Worse still, the insurgents were equipped with superior, up-to-date fire power and other tools of war, a factor which had helped them to vanquish many a soldier including several colleagues of the convicted ones”, the TUC said.
The union noted rather than carry out the death sentence, the military should investigate, identify and proffer lasting solutions to the reasons why those 12 brave, patriotic soldiers who must have known the implications of mutiny went ahead to get involved in it.
“Additionally, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) who denied the boys the appropriate weapons while insisting that they obey his … orders should be court-marshalled. He it is that has demonstrated the most indiscipline”, adding that if the death sentence is carried out, it would be no more than a special gift to the Boko Haram insurgents.
“It could also demoralise the rank and file of our brave soldiers. If the soldiers must be punished, a sentence of no more than 2 years imprisonment should suffice. Thus, we call on the Defence Headquarters to review the tribunal’s decision in favour of the convicted soldiers”, the TUC said.
