By Adekunle Adedosu
A military court in Abuja, Nigeria has sentenced 54 Nigerian soldiers to death.
According to reports, the military court said the 54 soldiers have been sentenced to death because they embarrassed the Nigerian military by demanding weapons to fight Islamic extremists and says they were justified in not going on what would have been a suicidal mission.
Defense attorney, Femi Falana said he will take all legal measures to prevent authorities from carrying out a ‘genocidal verdict’ of death by firing squad delivered on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 by court-martial.
‘All the soldiers convicted are aged between 21 and 25 and most joined the army around 2012. With little or no training, they were deployed against Nigeria’s home-grown Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram,’ the erudite lawyer said before adding: ‘Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification.’
