By Ismail Auwal
An ex- Nigerian soldier, Temple Ahunanya, who was sentenced to death for allegedly requesting for better weapons to fight Boko Haram, has recounted his experience 10 years after.
Ahunanya was among the other 13 soldiers arrested in July 2014.
In a video posted by Punch newspaper, the ex-soldier said their concern then intensified when Boko Haram terrorists ambushed and killed 9 soldiers in a single attack and 23 others sustained various degrees of injuries.
“The soldiers died because we were using soft vehicles, nobody would have died if we were using bulletproof cars,” he recounted.
“After two weeks’ intervals, there was a text from the GOC that we should be redeployed to Damboa; the same Damboa we went and we couldn’t combat these people effectively, because we lack support weapons.
“My troops did not refuse order, we waited for the weapons, and they brought old armored carrier, I personally waited to see if there were other weapons to support, but no weapon come.
“A call came from nowhere that my troops refused to order, and the team was ordered to be arrested,” he said.
He recalled that, “we were first told we were going to be briefed by the GOC, and the next thing that happened was they handcuffed me.”
“I felt very discouraged after I have depended and fought my country for over a year, the next thing I saw was handcuff and I was taken into custody,” he lamented.
“This is how it started we were locked up in an underground cell for one year, after some time a statement form was brought for me to fill.
The ex-soldier narrated how he was seriously beaten for refusing to admit that he was arrested for “refusing orders.
“I was later taken back to my detention cell with bruises on my head before I was later summoned to the Chief of Army Staff at the military headquarters, but I couldn’t meet with COAS because he was busy.
“I was so sad that I was not privileged to have one on one chat with COAS, after then were taken back to detention with my colleagues, “ he explained.
The soldiers were then charged with mutiny in the court, and Femi Falana volunteered to stand for the convicted.
The ex-soldier said that the president of the court wanted to release them and send them back to Maiduguri to continue the fight against terrorism “before I call came in.”
“When he picked the call, all I could hear was Yes Sir! Yes, Sir! and that is how a death sentence was pronounced.
“Before we went to prison the counsel of army sat and deliberated on our issue, and from death sentence, it was converted to 10 years’ imprisonment.
“We were later taken to an underground cell in Lagos and we did not see the sun for one year,” Ahunanya cried.
President Buhari gave the order for the release of the convicted soldiers in 2015, “ but we were only released in August 2021,” he lamented.
