President Muhammadu Buhari
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has written an open letter to Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari asking for presidential pardon for all convicted members of the armed forces.
Falana who defended the soldiers accused of mutiny in court, explained to Buhari that at the trials the only “offence” proved against the accused soldiers was that they had the temerity to demand for weapons to fight the well armed terrorists. But the soldiers whose cases were handled by us anchored their defence on Section 179 of the Armed Forces Act, Cap A20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which permits “a soldier, rating or aircraftman to make a complaint to his commanding officer and that he shall not be penalised for having made a complaint”.
READ Falana’s letter to President Buhari below:
Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari,
President & Commander-in-chief,
of the Armed Forces,
Presidential Villa,
Aso Rock, Abuja.
Request for presidential pardon for all convicted members of the armed forces pursuant to section 175 of the Nigerian Constitution
In prosecuting the war on terror the Goodluck Jonathan Administration deployed thousands of members of the armed forces to the north east region and forced them to fight the well armed insurgents with weapons which were not serviceable. In the process, the country’s armed forces suffered humiliating defeat which led to the killing of about 25,000 soldiers and civilians including children and the displacement of over 2,000,000 people. To the disgrace of the nation the rampaging terrorists were allowed to annex 14 local governments from the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria whose inhabitants were subjected to abductions, sexual assault, extortion and other horrendous human rights abuses.
Not a few of the soldiers who survived the deadly attacks deserted the army. But the majority of the dedicated members of the armed forces decided to defend the country’s …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
