The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has reacted to the reported presidential pardon granted to the 54 convicted soldiers by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The 54 soldiers are said to be among the 24 convicts and 86 ex-convicts recently pardoned by Buhari for different reasons.
And MURIC, in a message of gratitude signed by its director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, hailed the President’s decision, noting that the group had been pleading for the pardon.
Recall that back in 2014, a military court sitting in Abuja had sentenced 54 soldiers to death after they were found guilty of mutiny.
The soldiers were convicted on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, while four other soldiers were acquitted.
The convicted soldiers, who were mostly in front of the war against the Boko Haram terrorists in Northeast Nigeria were meant to die on stakes, by firing squad.
MURIC hailed President Buhari, wondering how a President, who is said to be suffering from a dead brain could take such a decision just a few weeks after its director had a tete-a-tete with the President.
The rights group said that the pardon means that “one, Muhammadu Buhari will grant audience without discrimination, even to the hoi polloi.
“Two, the claim that Buhari is brain dead is absolutely false and luciferously malicious.
“A man whose brain is dead cannot grant a plea or implement a request presented to him within seven weeks.
“The director of MURIC met the president alone on Wednesday, 23rd March, 2022. There was no third party. Therefore, nobody could have reminded him later about the issues raised.
“Yet the plea was granted within seven weeks. We, therefore, confirm that our president is not only very much alive, he is also ‘compos mentis’.
“By including the soldiers among those pardoned, President Buhari has pitched his camp with those who show mercy to the oppressed.
“For the records, MURIC waded into the case of the 54 soldiers simply for humanitarian reasons.”
