Boko Haram: Buhari asked to pardon 54 soldiers in jail over mutiny

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Boko Haram: Buhari asked to pardon 54 soldiers in jail over mutiny

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to grant presidential pardon to the 54 soldiers who are currently serving a 10-year jail term.

The Islamic human rights organization made the appeal in a press statement issued on Monday signed by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The 54 soldiers were rounded up in 2014 when they complained to their commander that their weapons were too poor to confront better equipped Boko Haram fighters.

They had earlier lost 23 men and four officers due to poor equipment when they advanced on Damboa on July 9, 2014.

MURIC said it is “deeply concerned about the plight of these heroes of Nigeria who have been wrongly treated. Yes, we strongly believe that they have been wrongly treated. They had defended Nigeria on several fronts before the incident. Their comrades fell on the battle field in their presence.

“While other soldiers knew that money meant for weapons were being syphoned into private pockets of top officers but chose to remain quiet, the gallantry and patriotism in the 54 soldiers motivated them to speak up and demand better weapons. Their demand actually exposed the rot in the top military hierarchy regarding the high level corruption involving the diversion of funds meant for weapons.

“It was the eye-opener that led to the popular case of $2.1 billion weapons fund diverted to the 2015 electioneering campaign by the then ruling party. It is therefore paradoxical that the 54 soldiers who exposed corruption in the military are now rotting in jail.

“We in MURIC have been calling for their release since 2015. We have issued several statements on the matter but to no avail. What kind of people are we in this country? How can we leave our heroes to rot in jail? How can we allow the defenders of our territorial integrity to suffer years of alienation and deprivation?”

The organization revealed that it had met the Nigerian Vice President on the matter and also sent a petition to his office at Aso Rock.

Akintola said, “The leadership of MURIC went beyond issuing press statements on this matter. We met Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during his visit to Lagos around November 2018 and tabled the case of the 54 soldiers before him.

“The Vice President showed understanding and requested that we should send a petition to his office. We did that within one week and his office responded. We were hopeful. That was about six months ago. Justice delayed is justice denied.

“The Presidential Committee on Prisons Reform and Decongestion (PCPRD) which was inaugurated on Tuesday 28th August, 2018 has freed about 5,000 prisoners but not a single one of them is among the 54 soldiers. The PCPRD, headed by Justice Ishaq Bello, has reportedly visited 15 states. We are not certain that the committee has seen the 54 soldiers.

“There is no better time for President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke the prerogative of mercy on the 54 soldiers than now. The month of Ramadan is the month of mercy. It is the month of giving and sharing.”

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Heartbreaking! Final chats between soldier and his wife before he was killed by Boko Haram (screenshots)

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Heartbreaking! Final chats between soldier and his wife before he was killed by Boko Haram (screenshots)

 

A soldier has died while fighting Boko Haram insurgents and the last chats he had with his wife has been shared online.\

Abbas was serving in northern Nigeria but was looking forward to leaving the army and having more time to build a family. However, he chose to stay back to make enough money to take care of the family he intended to make.

In chats between him and his wife, he is seen making plans for their future. He revealed he doesn't see himself doing the job for up to 10 years. He lamented that he was tired of the job, said he wished for his freedom, but told his wife he was doing it for her.

She told him to be strong that it won't last forever and he said he intends to leave the army once he gets his own house and car.

He also said he wasn't getting younger and needs to start having kids.

Read the chats below.

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Soldiers kill 2 bandits, recover dangerous weapons in Kaduna

NEWS

Soldiers kill 2 bandits, recover dangerous weapons in Kaduna

 

The Nigerian Army said troops deployed to fight bandits and other criminal activities in Kaduna State have killed two bandits in their hideout and recovered arms and ammunition in a raid.

A statement released on Thursday, by Army Acting Director Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, indicated that, the raid on the bandits’ den was conducted while acting on intelligence report in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State.

“Following credible intelligence from a Good Samaritan, a patrol team of 1 Division Nigerian Army (NA), at about 0430 hours (am) on Wednesday the 8th of May 2019, raided a bandits’ den at Gonan Bature East of Rijana and Kasarami farm house in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“The abandoned Kasarami farm house was reportedly forcefully occupied by criminals and had been used as a shelter and a place where victims of kidnapping were kept”, the statement noted.

According Colonel Musa, during the raid operation, contact was made with the hoodlums with fierce exchange of fire that led to the extermination of two bandits and made some recovery.

Items recovered, he added included: 2 AK 47 rifles, 2 AK 47 magazines, 51 rounds of 7.62 mm special ammunition as well as 2 techno cell phones.

“The Nigerian Army is committed and determined to protecting lives and property of all Nigerians, use this medium to thank the good Samaritan for providing the information that resulted in the successful raid operation”, the spokesman assured.

Colonel Musa also stressed that Nigerian Army will continue to sensitize and request members of the public to support it and other security agencies in their efforts to checkmate terrorism, banditry and other assorted crimes in Nigeria, by providing credible information about the hideouts and movements of suspicious persons in their respective communities.

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Nigerian Army dismisses soldier who raped a girl in front of her parents in Yobe - Photo

CRIME NEWS

Nigerian Army dismisses soldier who raped a girl in front of her parents in Yobe - Photo

Police in Yobe has paraded a soldier who raped a young girl in front of her parents in Buni Yadi and bashed her brother in the head with pestle after he refused to be forced to have sex with his sibling.

Private Akhigbe Tijjani, attached to 27 Taskforce Brigade was on a cordon-and-search operation when he entered a girl’s home and raped her in front of her family.

Police spokesman ASP Abdulmalik Abdulhafiz said Tijjani forced the girl’s brother to have sex with his sister.

“When the boy refused, Tijjani used a pestle and hit him in the head,” Abdulhafiz said.

A colleague on the cordon-and-search operation reported Tijjani to the military, prompting his courtmartial and dismissal.

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Operation Python Dance: Ohanaeze Demand Justice For The Massacred Igbo Youths

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Operation Python Dance: Ohanaeze Demand Justice For The Massacred Igbo Youths

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called on the military to find the soldiers who allegedly killed Igbos during the Operation Python Dance.

President-General of Ohanaeze, John Nnia- Nwodo, stated this Tuesday at the night of tributes for the former secretary general of the group and Biafran war veteran, the late Col. Joseph Achuzia, at the Enugu Sports Club.

“I had the opportunity to confront the leadership of the Army, who gave me an assurance that there is going to be a court martial of all soldiers involved in that behaviour that was contrary to their rules of engagement.

“I have been following this matter with correspondence and I will continue to follow it until we know those who massacred our children without cause,” he assured.

On Achuzia, Nwodo said: “From the Igbo-speaking part of Delta State, Asaba, Achuzia threw himself into the Biafran war with unsurpassed bravery, exemplary military discipline and the tact of historical generals of great wars.

“His single-minded approach to the Baifran War made him the dread of any soldier who exhibited any sign of cowardice or equivocation as far as the war was concerned.

“The severity of his enforcement of military discipline earned him the nickname ‘AirRaid’ while his bravery was likened to that of ‘Hannibal the Great’, hence, his other nickname, ‘Hannibal’.

“His bravery was such that he was always posted to any front which defied solution or where the battle was toughest, such that he was believed, then, to be invincible and a cat with nine lives.

“I am happy to be one of the people sent to Asagba of Asaba at the end of the war to say to our kit and kin in Delta that we are extremely sorry we have not shown enough sympathy for the carnage in that part of Igbo land

“And for the fact that we, the brothers, haven’t come to pay our respect for the dead since the war ended. All of us knelt down at the house of the Asagba of Asaba; I saw Ojukwu on his knees.

“I led the national executive of Ohanaeze to Asaba last year when they remembered 700 of our people who were murdered by federal troops. Contrary to the rules of engagement, the same kind of thing that happened to us not too long ago when we had the operation python dance”.

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