Nigerian Army lance corporal sentenced to death for killing five civilians in Borno State

RIFLEMAN Lance Corporal John Godwin has been sentenced to death by a Nigerian Army general court martial after he was found guilty of killing five rescued civilians in the Yamteke area of Borno State during Operation Lafiya Dole.

Operating in the state as part of the fight against Boko Haram, Lance Corporal Godwin was charged with murder, which is punishable under Section 106 (a) of Armed Forces Acts (Cap A20), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004. At the hearing in Maiduguri, he was found guilty, while some other soldiers were jailed by the court for various offences ranging from manslaughter to illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Lt Col Kingsley Samuel, the spokesman for the Seventh Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, said: “The civilians were earlier rescued by troops of Godwin’s battalion and were taken for investigation at the time he shot and killed five of them. Another soldier, Sergeant Innocent Ototo, was sentenced to life imprisonment for manslaughter after torturing and killing a 13-year-old boy who he said stole his phone.

Of late, the Nigerian Army has been clamping down on human rights abuses by its troops and meting out punishment to those found guilty. International human rights groups have accused the Nigerian Army of committing all sorts of atrocities across the northeast under the guise of fighting Boko Haram.