{"id":47999,"date":"2014-09-16T06:45:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T06:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=47999"},"modified":"2014-09-16T08:07:27","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T08:07:27","slug":"12-nigerian-soldiers-sentenced-to-death-for-mutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=47999","title":{"rendered":"12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"story_continues_1\">Twelve Nigerian soldiers have been sentenced to death for mutiny and attempted murder after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in May.<\/p>\n<p>The soldiers were angry after a convoy was ambushed on a road frequently targeted by Islamist Boko Haram militants.<\/p>\n<p>Five other soldiers were acquitted and one was convicted on another count.<\/p>\n<p>All denied the charges at a court martial in Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>The nine-member military tribunal heard that the incident happened when shots were fired at the commanding officer of the Nigerian Army&#8217;s Seventh Division, which is at the forefront of the fight against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Members of the armed forces in Borno state, Nigeria - April 2013\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77036000\/jpg\/_77036470_77034153.jpg\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/div>\n<div>The military is battling Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Children who fled their homes following an attacked by Islamist militants in Bama, take a lesson at a camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria, 9 September 2014\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77523000\/jpg\/_77523318_77523317.jpg\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/div>\n<div>The violence has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"In this file photo taken Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013, a Nigerian soldier patrols in an armoured car, during Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Maiduguri, Nigeria. \" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77160000\/jpg\/_77160636_5d5502b1-c42c-42b4-9028-e2020b262c3d.jpg\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/div>\n<div>Thousands of extra soldiers have failed to quell the insurgency<\/div>\n<p>Witnesses said the soldiers lost discipline and threw stones at the officer when he arrived at their camp, and shots were fired into the air.<\/p>\n<p>General Amadu Mohammed had to take cover as they aimed their guns at him &#8211; firing bullet-holes in his armour-plated staff car &#8211; but he was not injured.<\/p>\n<p>Court President Chukwuemeka Okonkwo said that while the sentences were subject to confirmation by Nigeria&#8217;s military authorities, there was no doubt about the seriousness of the offence.<\/p>\n<p>The sentencing panel took into account the &#8220;likely effect on counter-insurgency operations&#8221; of the incident as well as its &#8220;implications on national security&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria&#8217;s army has been under pressure to end the bloody five-year insurgency.<\/p>\n<p>Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria &#8211; and has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.<\/p>\n<p>The fighting has claimed thousands of lives, made tens of thousands of people homeless and seen the militants make recent territorial gains in the north-east.<\/p>\n<p>Last month a group of soldiers in the north-east refused to fight Boko Haram until they received better equipment, one of them told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>Frontline troops often complain that they lack adequate weapons and equipment while there have also been reports that they have not been paid or properly fed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twelve Nigerian soldiers have been sentenced to death for mutiny and attempted murder after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in May. The soldiers were angry after a convoy was ambushed on a road frequently targeted by Islamist Boko Haram militants. Five other soldiers were acquitted and one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-47999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}