MURIC urges Buhari to pardon 54 condemned soldiers

Muslim Rights Concern called on President Muhammadu Buhari to grant presidential pardon to 54 soldiers.

Ishaq Akintola, the director of Muslim

Rights Concern (MURIC), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to grant presidential pardon to 54 soldiers.

Premium Times reports that Akintola made this appeal in a statement issued on Monday, June 6, in Lagos.

In 2014, these soldiers were jailed and sentenced to death after they had been found guilty of mutiny.

However, MURIC leader noted that the ongoing arms gate trials had revealed that the soldiers were deprived of arms, while the top echelon mishandled the money meant for the procurement of arms.

“This may have informed the decision of the chief of army staff to commute the death sentence to 10 years imprisonment for each of the soldiers.

“Leveraging on the Ramadan season as the divinely acknowledged month of mercy (rahmah), we appeal for presidential pardon for the soldiers,” he said.

Akintola noted that the “beginning of Ramadan is a blessing, its middle is forgiveness while its end is freedom”. Therefore, he urged the president to allow these three qualities of Ramadan reflect fully in his actions and statements, particularly regarding the case of the 54 soldiers.

Lamenting that Nigerians are plagued with the problems of insecurity, insurgency, militancy, Akintola stressed that the country is in dire need of prayers.

“The best assurance that Allah will answer this country’s prayers is for our leaders to show remorse and seek Allah’s forgiveness for our collective trespasses.

“So what better way is there to seek Allah’s forgiveness than by first forgiving our own perceived offenders?

“A nation that seeks divine blessing must first purge itself of its judicial wrongdoings. We contend that the 54 soldiers among some other prisoners are innocent souls,” he said.

He also urged chief judges and the state governors to visit prisons and set large numbers of innocent prisoners free in this month of mercy.

Earlier this year, 66 soldiers who were sentenced to death by firing squad in January and March 2015 by separate General Court Martials were commuted to 10 years imprisonment each.