by James Sambo
Two soldiers who are on death-row will for the time being, be free from the hovering cloud of execution.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has ordered the Nigerian Army to halt the plan to execute the soldiers who are among the 12 convicted by the General Court Martial in Abuja on September 15, 2014.
The soldiers were said to have on May 14, 2014 fired shots at the General Officer Commanding the 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mohammmed, in Maiduguri.
They were tried on charges ranging from disobedience to particular order, insubordination, false accusation, criminal behavior, conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny under the Armed Forces Act 2004.
However, the appeal panel led by Justice Abubakar Abdulkadir made an order to hold off execution on Monday, but the copy of the order didn’t make it out to the press till Thursday, March 12.
The court ordered the Nigerian Army to stay of execution of Lance Corporal Igonmu Emmanuel and Private Andrew Ngbede pending the hearing and determination of their appeal against the death penalty passed on them by the GCM.
