Buhari Asked to Pardon 54 Soldiers in Jail over Mutiny

 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 by 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?”