said that members of the Senate will not be intervening on the death
verdict handed to 12 soldiers for mutiny by a military court on
September 16th.
Senator Sekibo who spoke with journalists after a closed-door meeting
between the senate committee on Defence and the Service Chiefs at the
National Assembly in Abuja yesterday September 23rd, said the verdict
of the military court is meant to instill discipline into the
military.
"No we are not, because the Armed Forces are established by an Act of
the National Assembly. The Act spelt out categorically the conduct of
the soldiers and the way they are to behave wherever they are. If you
join the military, that Act is to guide you and your conduct. If you
go contrary to any of the prescribed sections of the Act the
punishment prescribed for the Act you violated will come on you. So
the military did not just wake up one day and say that they are going
to kill Mr. A or Mr. B."
They went through the necessary processes and they found them guilty.
But I think that those found guilty also have a way out. They can go
on appeal and if the appeal finds them not guilty that will be it. But
for what the military has done, they have done the best thing; because
you must instill discipline in the Armed Forces. If you don't do so,
one day all of us here will be sacked and you will not hear of this
place," he said.
Meanwhile the Nigerian Labor Congress has condemned the death
sentence. Speaking through the Acting President of the Union, Promise
Adewusi, the NLC described the verdict as unacceptable and advised
that the verdict be converted to a more tolerable and acceptable one
"We expect that the Military Council or the appropriate authority,
whose responsibility it is to review sentences of this nature, should
commute this sentence to a more tolerable or acceptable one.".He said
the sentence to death verdict handed to the soldiers if carried out
could sow the seed of a major security problem in the armed forces.
No comments:
Post a Comment