TUC Condenms Senate Over Convicted Soldiers

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has condemned the Nigerian Senate for showing blind eyes to the predicament of the 12 soldiers sentenced to death by a military tribunal after being convicted of mutiny.

The condemnation, which was made at the congress, was contained in a statement jointly issued on Thursday, by its President and Secretary, Bobboi Kaigama and Musa Lawal.The congress described as amazing that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Thompson Sekibo, declared that the Senate would not intervene because the penalty is as prescribed in the Military Act and must be carried out to maintain discipline.

“We ordinarily might have agreed with the senator if the soldiers’ mutinous acts and refusal to fight had been informed by cowardice, but the undisputed evidence adduced and reported show that they are all brave, willing combatants who only requested that they be sufficiently equipped for the task at hand and protested the avoidable death of their buddies because of the negligence, recalcitrance and misjudgement of their commanding officer,” the statement read.