The Wages Of Mutiny Is Death!

Nigeria is an amazing country filled with the most wonderful people, most of whom exhibit the oddest of traits that defies all forms of logic, theories or tinges of normalcy as you might expect it. Our leaders are simply wonderful creatures who think they are ruling a bunch of morons and I say this boldly because if they do not think us moronic, thy wouldn't lie to us blatantly and then turn around to say another thing. Take for example the sort of initial denials that occurred after the Chibok girls were kidnapped before they eventually conceded and admitted to the kidnap. As a result of that initial forceful denial, some people still believe the kidnap of the Chibok girls is but a fairytale concocted to damage the government's reputation, despite the same government backtracking and retracting their initial denial. 

There are many more instances like that where our government releases one lie thing and then eventually admits to the truth, usually after evidence is released on social media and the likes. The most recent one has a dreary twist to it because presently, the lives of twelve men are hanging in the balance over these sorts of discrepancies. Sometime in May, there were news flying around about some military men engaging in mutiny against Ahmadu Mohammed, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the Nigerian Army. Reports claimed that the sort of ambushes the soldiers were facing, without being adequately equipped to handle what they were faced against, made them snap and thus react angrily in the manner in which they did especially after seeing the brutally slain bodies of their colleagues. Trained soldier or not, I'm pretty sure such a horrific war scene is enough to cause anyone to lose their minds  briefly and throw caution to the wind despite their orientation of knowing that mutiny is the army means death. 

 Then came Chris Olukolade, Major General and spokesman for the Nigerian Army, who refuted such  claims of a mutiny by these officers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army. He said there was no such thing as the occurrence of a mutiny but that the officers merely expressed their displeasure by shooting into the air.  You can read one of such reports here. Ok then, fast-forward to September 2014, and the news breaks that 13 out of the 18 soldiers standing trial for participating in the mutiny (revolt action) against their General Officer Commanding, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mohammed at the newly created 7 Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri on May 12th have been sentenced to death by a military court that sat in Abuja yesterday night September 15th. Five others were discharged and acquitted while one was jailed for 28 days with hard labor.

According to the report, "The President of the Court Martial (military court), Maj. Gen. C.C. Okonkwo, while delivering his judgement said the 12 soldiers were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, mutiny, attempt to commit murder (shooting at the vehicle of the GOC); insubordination to a particular order; insubordination and false accusation."

Sigh. Do you see my dilemma with the dillydallying occurring in our system? It is our fundamental human rights as citizens of Nigeria to be furnished with accurate information from the government at all times. Well sentiments and emotions aside, the wages of mutiny in Nigeria is death. The law is the law. I can only hope the President will interfere and tamper justice with mercy, given the reason and nature of the mutiny itself. While I do not defend flouting a clearly stated law, I however understand why the soldiers reacted the way they did. Reports indicate that "the soldiers had on May 14th revolted against poor remuneration and lack of sophisticated weapons to fight Boko Haram. On that particular day, the soldiers lost their cool after seeing the corpse of some of their colleagues killed by Boko Haram men." 

According to a publication in Punch newspaper today, the General Officer Commanding, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mohammed has been sacked, however the Defense Headquarters has denied this claim. (Sigh) I also wish we can apply stricter laws on corrupt officials and terrorists as well.