The Nigerian Army has court–martialled 18 soldiers involved in an alleged mutiny in May, in which revolting troops opened fire at a car carrying the commanding general of the army’s 7 Division in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Military sources said the General Officer Commanding, GOC, of the newly-created 7 Division, Ahmadu Mohammed, a Major General, was targeted by soldiers who blamed him for the deaths of their colleagues.
The attack in Maimalari cantonment, on May 14, humiliated the Nigerian military at a time the force came under international spotlight over the abduction of nearly 300 school girls in Chibok by the extremist Boko Haram sect.
Official said at the time that the rebellious soldiers were infuriated over the ambushing and killing of their colleagues by Boko Haram – an attack the soldiers blamed their superiors for.
The soldiers have been charged for attempted murder and mutiny.
The internal memo, signed by the Commander, Army Headquarter Garrison, B.T. Ndiomu, according to Premium Times, ordered the constitution of a General Court Martial, to be presided by C.C Okonkwo, a Brigadier General.
Ndiomu, also a Brigadier General, ordered that the court martial be assembled at the garrison’s conference hall on June 26.
The military court is made up of seven members, two waiting members, a judge advocate and two prosecuting officers.
Others members 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 army accused the soldiers of attempting to kill the GOC, Mohammed, who was blamed by the soldiers for the deaths of their colleagues killed in an ambush near Chibok.
The soldiers were ambushed while on a special operation in Kalabalge Local Government Area where locals on a 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 arrived the operation location 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, the request which was allegedly turned down.
“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.
But halfway through their journey, they ran into a Boko Haram ambush and 12 of them got killed while some others were injured, sources said, though 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, launched an attack on their commander, Mohammed, when they eventually arrived in Maiduguri.
In its version of the attack on the GOC, the military claimed the soldiers did not shoot at their commander, but merely fired into the air.
“The fact of the matter is that troops on patrol around Chibok were ambushed by insurgents. 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.
But in the charge sheet signed by Ndiomu, the army said the soldiers’ bullet only missed General Mohammed by a hair’s breadth, as at least one bullet struck the rear right door of his Sports Utility Vehicle, where the general sat.
“In that you on or about 14 May 14 at7 DMSH Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri without justification attempted to kill Maj. Gen. A Mohammed (N/7915), the GOC 7 div( as he then was) by firing shots on his official vehicle (Command Jeep) which hit the right door where he sat,” the charge reads.
After the attack in Maiduguri, the Nigerian Army arrested the soldiers and instituted a military board of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding their conduct.
The army charged 11 of the 18 soldiers with criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny among others.
The soldiers face 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.
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