News according to Sahara
Reporters, soldiers who were sentenced to death for mutiny last year are
allegedly being starved to death. Read the report below...
Sahara Reporters has learnt of a covert plan to ‘kill’ a
group of soldiers who were arrested late last year on charges of mutiny and
attempted murder. The soldiers who have been held since September last year
managed to reach out to the outside world via text messages, using the
opportunity to reveal the conditions they are being held in.
In an initial message, they sent this text to our reporter:
“Greetings sir, we are the 12 soldiers sentenced to death others detained at
CIC Apapa, Lagos. We are to inform you that following our denial of access to
our families, councils & even access to fund [sic] to feed our families pay
our legal fees, that as you know, we had been concealing our cell phone to help
us hear from counsels.
The phone was collected on 6\5\15, in view of this, we have
not been fed, We are on hand-cuff & leg chain, we are kept naked [sic]
& deprived of even drinking water. As it stands now sir, our lives
are at stake. We, therefore, plead with due respect that you intervene”.
Our reporter then followed up trying to call the number but met with no
success.
After a while, one of the accused reached our reporter
again, this time in a voice call with a frantic message. “They are trying to
kill us. They want to kill us” the voice said. He went on to inform our
reporter that the authorities have noticed that they have access to a cell
phone and have therefore resorted to using starving techniques as a form of
punishment. He said they had not been fed nor given any water for about five
days.
Last year the story broke of some 12 soldiers who were
reined in by the military authorities for allegedly refusing to confront Boko
Haram militants and firing at their commanding officer in the northeastern city
of Maiduguri in May. The soldiers were reportedly angry after a convoy was
ambushed on a road frequently targeted by Islamist Boko Haram militants and
decided to protest to the authorities who they blamed for underequipped and
underpaying them.
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